Childhood Magic

Carson lost tooth #4 a couple of days ago. He was so excited to get more money from the tooth fairy. Unfortunately the tooth fairy does not have a very good memory and his tooth was still in his tooth pillow the next morning. I suggested to him after making a quite visit to his bedroom that *maybe* the tooth fairy forgot he had a tooth pillow and she just put the money under his pillow in his bed. Mom was right! When he told one of his friends on the way to school what happened his friend said, "Cool! Now you can reuse your tooth and get more money!" Too funny!

I still remember believing in the tooth fairy, Santa Claus and the Easter Bunny. Carson has a friend who's parents do not pass on these traditions in their family. Which is fine but this friend also goes around and tells the kids who's parents do pass on the tradition that they are not real. Carson argues with him and (as far as I know) still believes.

Some may see it as "lying" to their children. I see it as bringing a little "magic" into their lives. Children are forced to grow up too fast these days. The toy stores are filled with toys that are exactly like the "real thing" so kids no longer have to use their imagination. Everything is so logical. Like I said, I remember believing in these characters. I still remember lying in bed imagining Santa landing his reindeer on my roof and putting presents under the tree. I remember placing my hand under my pillow so that maybe I would feel the tooth fairy tickle it and I could quickly grab her and see what she looked like. I even remember imagining an oversized Easter Bunny hopping house to house. I also remember finding out "the truth". Yes, it was disappointing. But never once was I upset with my parents for "lying" to me. Rather I was upset BECAUSE I found out! I wanted to go back to being innocent and believing in the magic of it all. Christmas was a lot more fun when Santa delivered some of your gifts and not just your parents. Christmas did not become fun again until I had children and could relive that magical time through them.

Maybe I'm just trying to justify "lying" to my children. But I'm having fun with it and as far as I can tell they are too!

28th Birthday

This year my husband went above and beyond anything he has ever done for any of the previous 7 birthdays I have had since we've been married. First it stated off with my gift. He went in with my mom on a violin. I have had the same student violin since I started 16 years ago. I wasn't suppose to find out about it until my birthday but I did (two months ago). Then he told my sometime last month that for my birthday his sister Toni was going to watch the kids while we went out to dinner. We would then pick up Landon that night and the other three were going to spend the night. Sounds GREAT! So, the friday before my birthday we went to Cafe' Rio (YUUUUUMY!) and had a nice peaceful evening with only one child. He told me we were suppose to go pick up our kids around lunchtime. When we arrived I saw Michael and Christy's car in the driveway and thought "Oh, fun! Look who's here". Then I saw Kiera, my friends daughter, on the porch and thought "What in the world is she doing here?" and then my son Carson comes running up to me and says "MOM! We are doing a suprise party for you!" Ah ha! My husband was a little annoyed that he "ruined" it but I was still REALLY surprised. They had a nice lunch all prepared along with a cake (it even had PURPLE sprinkles!). I also got some really nice gifts (thanks again!!) and great company. I kept thinking back to all the lies Dayv had to tell me so I didn't figure it out. I was totally in awe. WOW, he is a good liar! Well, as if that wasn't enough, on my actual birthday he brought me breakfast in bed before he left for work that morning!!

Dayv wasn't the only one that spoiled me. The saturday after my birthday I got to go out to lunch with my sister in laws, Christy and Toni! We went to one of my favorite restaurants, The Olive Garden. I even got Pumpkin Pie cheesecake for dessert!

Tahirah's Baby Book

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Noah's Baby Book

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Carson's Baby Book

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Parent/Teacher Conference

Today was Carson's first Parent/Teacher Conference this year. I remember always going with my mom to my Parent/Teacher conferences as a child but they don't do that at his school. The student does not come. His teacher, Mrs. Lundgreen, went on and on about how wonderful he was (I'm sure he would of loved to be there. He eats that kind of stuff right up!). She said all of the students took a reading test and he tested at a 3rd grade reading level...so far. I guess he tested at the highest level you can get on the test she gave him. She is going to get the third grade reading test and see how he tests out with that one. Carson LOVES to read! Lately he has been crazy about going to the library and picking up a bunch of chapter books. His favorites are the Magic Tree House books and Tales From The Odyssey books. I can't believe how fast he can read them! We have been letting him read at night before he goes to bed with a book light for 20 minutes and he would tell me the next morning that he finished the book he was reading. At first I didn't think he was reading it all or at least not understanding all of it so I would read it and then "test" him on it. Well, I was wrong! He would answer every one of my questions with accuracy. I think it's so wonderful that he loves reading so much!

There was also a funny story that his teacher told me. I guess she was reading the kids a book about a family that lived in California and then asked the kids what they had in common with the book. Carson tells her that he used to live in California. She asks him where in California did he live. He tells her San Diego (he had an uncle that used to live there. However we have never even been there!) but he lived there when he was really little and doesn't remember it. I immediately started laughing and told her Carson was born in Salt Lake City and has lived here ever since! She couldn't believe it. THEN she said something about how Carson never went to Kindergarten. Again, I started laughing and said actually he did go to Kindergarten and it was even at the same school!! I'm a little worried that I have such a good liar on my hands. He really likes to "one up" people. You have a horse? Well, I have a horse that talks! (ok, he has never said that. As you can see, with adults anyway, he tells pretty believable stories) I should also mention that Carson not only loves to read but he also loves to write and frequently thinks up different stories. Along with wanting to be a paleontologist, an explorer, and a scientist he also wants to write books when he grows up. He has an amazing imagination. Let's just hope he starts writing down these stories instead of making people believe they are actually true!

OCTOBER 2009

As you can see I haven't updated my blog in a while. Things have gotten pretty busy with the kids. So, I've decided maybe I'll just update once or twice a month. Here is what we were up to this past month:

The beginning of October we went to the zoo with my parents and two brothers. It was sort of a Denton family reunion. We were suppose to go to St. George and camp out in Snow Canyon but Carson had school and Dayv had to work. So, my parents and brothers went to Wendover and then came back to Salt Lake to go to the zoo with me and the kids. One of the Elephants just had a baby not too long ago. It was so much fun to watch her. She was quite the little show off. There was also a baby giraffe and two baby tiger cubs! Unfortunately Noah got sick. So, Dayv stayed home with him.







Landon had his 6 month well checkup. He was sick (Noah shared). They weighed him at 22 lbs 7 oz and he measured 29 1/4 inches long. A BIG boy! He has really been catching on to the whole eating thing. None of the other kids really ate baby food. Tahirah LOVES feeding him.


And here's a pic of a new do he tried out:



Tahirah stated her preschool and LOVES it. She now loves to write her name and find different letters she knows on everything! She has never really been interested in this sort of thing like Carson was so it's been a lot of fun to see her so excited about it now.

Noah is finally feeling better. He was sick and then had an ear infection. We are still keeping a close eye on him for more staff infection. I've become quite paranoid about it now. We noticed a red spot on his arm that I worried was staff but luckily it went away the next day.

Halloween was a lot of fun this year. We had a Halloween game night with some friends of ours the week before Halloween. This was the first of many times the kids had to dress up and the only time I got pictures od them in their costumes. I was a traffic light. Dayv, Carson and Noah were pirates. Tahirah was a blue fairy. Landon was a Dalmatian puppy. My favorite costume in our game group was Mark who was Klinger off of M.A.S.H. Too funny!!

The friday before Halloween we went over to Michael and Christy's for the annual pumpkin carving party which is always a lot of fun. Dayv stayed home because he wasn't feeling well. I decided we would just do one pumpkin for the whole family. Carson really wanted to carve one this year so I let him do it all by himself and he did a FABULOUS job!! He was so proud of it.

For Halloween we went up to my parents for the annual trunk-or-treat. After the kids filled their bags with candy went to my grandparents and got to visit with them along with my aunt and two of my cousins (and my cousin's three week old baby!!). On Sunday the kids got to decorate cookies my mom had gotten for them. The kids were bouncing off the walls and driving my Dad crazy I'm sure but we all had a good time!








So, there you have it! Sorry the pics are a little out of order. Blogspot has really done something weird with the picture uploading that I'm not liking at all! Ah well.

Sorry, I don't feel like coming up with a title for this post! Deal with it....

Well, we put Tahirah in preschool after all. The same family who's son goes to Carson's school has a daughter that goes to this preschool. It is $20 cheaper than the one Carson went to so I decided to go ahead and put her in. Tahirah loves it! She didn't have any problem at all going the first day. So, now I have two hours with only two kids three times a week.....very strange!

Landon got his first tooth and is working hard on his second one. There have been many tears but hopefully it will pop through soon so mommy can have little break from the ornery baby until the next one decides to come. I hate teething.....

I've been keeping busy getting ready for the primary program. A couple of weeks ago I made this chart with all the songs listed on it. Next to the songs I had a thumbs up sign which I put a brad in so you could turn it. I also made a larger thumbs up with a brad on it and placed it on a piece if cardboard. I told the kids that we were going to go through each of the songs and see how well they could sing them. I gave my helper the larger thumbs up and she moved it while they sang the song. Whichever way the thumb was pointing by the end of the song was the way we moved the thumb on the chart. The goal was to get all "thumbs up" on each of the songs. For an added bonus I wrapped up a box and tied 7 ribbons to it (there are 7 songs they are singing). Every time they got a "thumbs up" on a song they got to cut one ribbon. I told them when all the ribbons were gone they could open the present. I have NEVER heard them sing the songs SO WELL! Especially the junior primary. It's amazing what a little bribery can do! They were able to open the present last week. I had put a note in the box that had a picture of a cookie with "Sister Van Orman's Chocolate Chip Cookies" written on it. I didn't know how long it was going to take them to get all "thumbs up" so I didn't want to put the actual cookies in the box. I brought the cookies in a separate container and they were able to enjoy them after primary. Apparently everybody liked them because I got asked for the recipe a lot! I'm definitely going to be doing this again next year. It really helped the kids. I've had a lot of success finding different fun activities to do with the kids to help them learn the songs. I tried making a blog and posting the ideas each week but time was working against me and it didn't last very long. I really like to make music time fun because I remember absolutely DREADING music time when I was in primary. I hope the kids are enjoying it as much as I am! It is the most fun I've ever had in a calling.

A New Post!

For some reason I have been putting this off. I'm not exactly sure why. Usually I enjoy blogging. Odd...

Well, Carson is now a FIRST GRADER! I still have a hard time believing he is that old. He is still going to the same charter school way across town but this year I only have to drive him there in the morning. There is another boy in our neighborhood who goes to the same school so I am able to carpool this year. It is SO NICE! Carson is really enjoying school now. He had a hard time the first week just adjusting to the all day schedule but now he is doing great!

I officially decided not to put Tahirah in preschool. I really would of loved to have put her in the one Carson attended but I just couldn't justify the $70 a month it would of cost me. And after making sure there was NO MONEY TREE in our back yard I just knew it wasn't even possible. I would still like to sign her up for dance but it is going to have to wait.

Noah has yet another staff infection. At least that's what his doctor thinks it is (after being misdiagnosed at the instant care as yeast). BUT after one round of an antibiotic and half way through another one it is still not gone. I guess we'll see what happens at the end of this round.

I think Landon is teething. At least it gives me an excuse for his orneriness.....He's still the cutest baby in the world just a very fussy one!

Dayv is starting the fourth year of his apprenticeship! It is a five year program but he can take his journeyman's test after this year!! This year is rather expensive. I wish they had some kind of financial aide (besides our credit card).

Sebastian (one of our cats) decided he was done with inside life. He escaped again! Our dog Dharma is a rather impatient dog and when Dayv let her outside in the middle of the night and went back to sleep she managed to get the back patio door open and let herself in. She, of course, forgot to close it. I wonder what Sebastian will think about the outside life when it starts snowing! Dumb cat!

Family Pictures!

We FINALLY had family pictures done today! We have not had family pictures since Tahirah was a baby. I thought they turned out really well! A friend of ours, Mark Barber, took them. If you like what you see and are interested here is his website: http://ttiphoto.com/services. He is VERY affordable, does an incredible job and he gives you full rights of the pictures he takes. Just thought I'd throw that in there....

Anyway, ENJOY! (THANK YOU MARK!!!)

Update!

I was waiting to take a picture before posting but I guess you'll just have to wait even longer for that. Our Dodge Caravan was pretty much just falling apart so we got a new (new to us anyway) Honda Odyssey! I LOVE IT! So what made us decide to add a car payment to our already large stack of bills? Well, the story goes like this: The Caravan was having some overheating issues. Dayv had poured some radiator fix stuff (that's a technical term) in it and it seemed to have worked. I drove it to an appointment I had with no problems. So, I decided to drive to Draper to pick up my son from my sister-in-law Toni's. As soon as I go to get on the main freeway it overheats. I pull over in the shoulder right on a curve. I have no cell phone with three kids in the car. So, I go to the back of the van and start trying to wave someone down. FINALLY someone pulls over and I use their cell phone to call my sister-in-law Christy. I am just about in tears, scared to death that someone is going to hit my van. While I'm waiting for Christy a cop pulls over to find out what is going on. He offers to sit behind me until Christy gets there. THANK YOU! I relaxed a little but still wouldn't let my kids out of their car seats until she got there. Being stuck on the freeway was NOT something I wanted to experience again so we decided it was time. Our van almost had 180,000 miles on it. And we figured once we got the radiator fixed it would just be something else. So, we are now the proud owners of a 2000 Honda Odyssey with 109,000 miles on it in excellent condition! YEA!

Landon had his 4 month well child checkup. He is now up to 20.3 lbs and is 27 inches long. He is rolling over and is just the happiest little boy!

Carson got a letter from his new teacher. He is actually not that excited about starting school. He says he wants to go back to his old class. He has a hard time with change (I don't know where he would of gotten that from). His tonsils seem to have healed fine. I keep meaning to make a follow-up appointment for him. But now he almost seems to have become a hypochondriac. And not only does he worry about there being something wrong WITH him he worries about something happening TO him too. Kind of odd.

I am still debating the whole preschool thing for Tahirah. She honestly really could use the socialization and being away from mom but I'm not so sure I want to or even can shell out the $75.

Noah's infection has pretty much healed up. It was a complete nightmare trying to get him to take his antibiotics. I tried a million different things to sneak it into and finally discovered strawberry yogurt was the one food he didn't taste it in. SO glad that's over!

Keeping Life Interesting

Well, Sebastian is finally in the house. Crazy kitty! I tricked him by leaving the front door open and putting his food inside the house. We have a split entry so I was able to stand in our living room and reach over and shut the door once he was inside. He quickly ran upstairs and hid behind the coffee table.I just about threw him back outside again after he kept me up with his meowing ALL NIGHT LONG. The next night was much better and now I think he is more friendly then he was when he left!

Noah decided to keep things interesting around here. Yesterday morning after I got him dressed he asked me why he had an owie on his foot. Sure enough there was a blister looking thing on the bottom of his foot right under his pinkie toe. It looked a little strange but I didn't think much of it. When I asked him what he did he told me he fell down the stairs which is what he always says when I ask him how he got an owie (ether that or the he fell off the changing table...don't ask me why!). When Dayv got home from work I told him to look at it. He was thinking it was a strange place for a blister. I got looking at it again and noticed it was getting red around it. We almost waited until today to take him in but decided to take him into the urgent care clinic just to be sure. Good thing we did! The doctor did not have one good thing to say about it. She did not like what she saw at all! Apparently it was a bad infection. So, they numbed his foot and then drained all the stuff out. After doing so, the doctor still could not see anything that might of gotten stuck in this foot and caused the infection. They then gave him two shots in his thighs at the same time (I am so glad Dayv took him and not me! I've had my share of seeing Carson go through this kind of treatment). Dayv said Noah was screaming "Don't let them stick my feet anymore!" My poor baby!! They also put a splint on this foot and wrapped it up. The doctor said if it spreads anymore then it had then we would have to take him to Primary Children's hospital. The doctor also prescribed a hefty antibiotic which has been a nightmare trying to get Noah to take. He spit out probably half of it when I tried to give it to him this morning! The infection hasn't spread anymore, thank goodness! He has to go back into the urgent care clinic after Dayv gets home from work today. I'm sure Noah is going to be thrilled about that!
Dayv spoiled him pretty good once he got out of urgent care. He bought him a big bag of skittles and this squishy glow worm toy. After he got home I asked him if he had fun at the doctors and he told me "Yes!" I guess Daddy did a good job of getting him forgot all about it. But something tells me that Noah is going to quickly remember when he goes back in today.

I'm a COOL mom now!

We went up to Dayv's aunt and uncle's house today and his cousin, Nichelle, put blond highlights in my hair. Dayv says I look trendy now. Woohoo! I actually really like them. It was fun to do something different. I've only gotten highlights once before today and they were red so you couldn't see them very well. Fun, fun!!

Keep Smiling!

My friend Becky sent me this link to a story about a little boy not having his prayers answered. I read it to Carson and he really enjoyed it. It helped him understand that sometimes the answer is "no", sometimes the answer is "yes" and sometimes the answer is "not yet" (something that I still need to learn too!) If you have a minute please take the time to read it. Thank you Becky!

There has been a lot of negativity going on in the Van Orman home today but instead of going into that I thought I'd just go right into my daily "sparklies":

* Carson ate half a bowl of jello AND a crepe!
* Carson was also totally his happy go lucky self for about two hours this morning! It was so wonderful to see the old Carson again.
*I was able to get ALL four kids down for a nap including myself for about an hour today!! It was heaven!
*I received an invite to Dayv's cousin, Heather's baby shower. I am so happy for her and Scott and I am also glad Heather and Emily Sue are still doing ok.
*I went on a couple of outings with my children today. I took all four of them to the dollar store which could of turn into disaster but didn't and then I took Carson with me to get a few groceries. I love spending time with my kids and being able to get out of the house.
*I was able to get one load of laundry in the washer today which is quite a feat these days.
*I am so thankful for such a happy baby! Landon always wakes up smiling and cooing and it makes for a good start to the day.
*Landon rolled over today. I'm not really sure if that's a good thing because it means he's growing up :(

Staying POSITIVE in a NEGATIVE environment

How DOES one do this anyway? I have been trying really hard but feel like I'm losing ground. I would first like to start out by saying I AM truly blessed with the life that I have. We all have our trials.

You all know about Carson. I feel like this whole ordeal with him is actually getting harder not easier. Any parent knows it is very difficult to see your child in pain and not be able to do anything about it. Carson's prescription pain medication burned his throat and therefore he refused to take it. We talked to the nurse and she told us the only other thing we could do is give him over-the-counter Tylenol. This unfortunately does not even seem to touch the pain he is going through right now. He continues to only eat a couple of bites of something every day and I have to force him to continue to drink. He received a blessing last night from his Dad. He was told he would heal but I'm sure Carson was hoping that meant right now. Unfortunately, our Heavenly Father's timing on that was a little different. It really saddened me after I told Carson to ask Heavenly Father to help him sleep tonight to hear him say "that never works". I know he is just really frustrated right now and he doesn't understand the Lord's timing. I know he has become very scared and again I am trying really hard to "stay positive in a negative environment" but to tell you the truth, I get worried to.

As you also all know our cat escaped when we had a fire down in our basement. He has since been living in an empty house behind our neighbors and only comes to our house to eat around ten o'clock every night. We have tried numerous tactics to get him to come back in the house with no luck. Someone has since moved into the empty house and our cat has recently started "doing his business" in my neighbor's yard which, as you can imagine, she is not very happy about. One more thing to add to "my list". Again, trying to "stay positive in a negative environment". I admit, I might get a little negative too if my neighbor's animal was pooping in my yard but seriously, WHAT AM I SUPPOSE TO DO? I keep thinking, obviously this cat DOES NOT want to come back in the house if we have put his food inside the house with the door open and he still goes back outside after he has eaten the food!

Has anybody else felt a little down with what is going on in the world these days? There is definitely a lot of negativity going on there. I am so grateful everyday that my husband still has a job and we still have a house!

So, with that I've decided to start something new. An idea that may help with staying positive. I recently read a blog about a mother who had lost a child. She listed what she called "sparklies" after every post on her blog. A list of things that happened that were good, things she was grateful for. So, here's my list for today:

*Carson ate about three scoops of ice cream today
*I have a clean sink (more about that another time)
*I also have a pretty clean kitchen, thanks to my husband
*Landon is still sleeping through the night
*I got a new "friend" on facebook (it's been fun getting back in touch with people I haven't talked to in years!)
*I got to "hang out" with Carson. We went to the store and the library where he got to pick out a movie and a couple of books.
*Dayv got his car fixed today. At least we HOPE so!
*I got my daily email from my sister in law
*I didn't get any bills in the mail today
*Tahirah gave me lots of extra hugs and kisses
*Noah made me laugh (this just about happens everyday. We, of course, won't mention what else he does during the day)
*Dayv loves me!

Wow! That did make me feel better! It might of not been the most exciting thing for you to read but now maybe you all should make your own list.

Wecome to the new Blog!

Thanks for visiting! If you have a blog yourself, please let me know! I'd love to add it to my list. I still need to transfer the ones I have on my old blog.

So, here's an update on us. Carson is still not doing entirely wonderful. He still is not eating much and Dayv and I have noticed he looks like he has lost a bit of weight. We stopped giving him the prescription pain killer and are just giving him over-the-counter Tylenol. Everything that we try giving him to eat he says hurts his throat so it's been hard. I hope he turns around soon!

I've decided to start running and riding my bike. I found a nice running schedule online to get me started. I used to love to run when I was younger and have found that I have really gotten out of shape since then. The lower number on the scale has given me a little more motivation to keep up with my eating plan. Exchanging lists with Christy has really helped!

Dayv just finished his third year of the apprenticeship program. So, he is officially a fourth year apprentice!! He's has a pretty high overall average so I am quite proud of him! He is doing so well in both the schooling and out on the job. The program is five years but he can take his journeyman's test after four. Dayv has also gotten word that they are back up to working 50 hour weeks again. We were really worried there for a while that he was going to get laid off. So, we are happy about that. The medical bills have been piling up (mostly Carson's) so that will help out immensely!

Carson

Here is a post dedicated to our "little monster". Just before we left for Canada Carson learned how to ride his bike. It was quite an exciting moment for him. He was pretty terrified to ride it on the road for fear of scratching up his legs and arms. So, Dayv had the idea to have him ride on the grass. I took him in the back yard, got him balanced and gave him a big push. It only took him a couple of tries before he had it down and was ready for the road. I did the same thing on the road and he did great! The next step was learning to start on his own. He just kept practicing and within about 10 minutes, he was an expert! Yesterday, Carson got his tonsils out. He was having some sleep apnea because his tonsils were so large and the doctor also said one tonsil looked bigger than the other which also concerned him a bit. He was fine until they tried to give him some medicine to calm him down before they took him back for the surgery. But as soon as that kicked in, he was cool as a cucumber! The surgery took less than an hour and then they invited me to go back and see him. He was so out of it! His oxygen levels kept going down so they gave him some oxygen for a little while and then he threw up. He kept trying to get up and go, he was so anxious to get out of there! The nurses absolutely loved him! They kept telling me how cute he was. And just a little side note, The Utah Surgical Center is awesome! The whole staff was more than wonderful!

Here is Carson trying to smile after we got home from his surgery.
The little cow next to him is one he got from his discharge nurse.
It's little shirt says Utah Surgical Center.

Carson was pretty sleepy for the first part of the day and then I couldn't get him to calm down. I had to give him his pain meds not because he was in pain but so he would chill out! He kept getting upset because he couldn't eat what he wanted like chips or crackers. He ate about 10 or more Popsicles and even had dinner (BBQ pork sandwiches)!

Well, that unfortunately didn't last into the next day. He woke up very upset and both his stomach and his throat were hurting all day. He wouldn't eat anything, not even a Popsicle and I had to force him to drink. He is taking three different medications. The one he really hates is his pain meds because of the taste and I've discovered that it is that one that is also giving him his stomach ache. But if he doesn't take it then he is in excruciating pain! My poor little monster! It's so hard to see your kids in pain. You just wish you can take it all upon yourself. Hopefully he will start to feel more normal soon!

(Yea! I am all caught up! )

Lagoon!

Dayv's employer has a work party every year at Lagoon. This year he had to work so they gave him the free tickets to go on a different day which was last Saturday, July 11th. And not only did he get free admission tickets he got free meal tickets too! Pretty sweet deal. Normally I think Lagoon is a bit of a rip off but you can't beat free! We decided that Noah might be a bit young so we left him with my sister in law Toni and took her son Brigham (who is a couple years older than Carson) instead. The kids had so much fun. Because we had Landon, Dayv and I were not able to go on very many rides ourselves but it was just as fun to see our kids having fun (not to mention, Dayv gets sick on most amusment park rides). Here a some pics from the day:

They had a monkey show, which we never saw, but we caught this cute little guy (the monkey not the man) having his picture taken with people.


Lagoon a Beach was a big hit. They have a pretty cool little kid area.Landon actually slept most of the time but here he is during one of
his awake and happy moments. Isn't he cute?!

Oh Canada!

So, I'm a little behind in my blogging so I will start with our trip to Canada. We left on Thursday, June 25th and stopped at my parents house in Lewiston (close to Logan). We spent the night, dropped off our dog and left about 8 the next morning on Friday. The trip up was an absolute miracle. We had borrowed a portable DVD player with two screens from a friend and the three oldest kids either watched a movie or slept the whole way up. Landon also did a lot of sleeping and ate when he was suppose to. I couldn't believe it! Once we were in Canada we drove past a vistor's center that had a huge T-rex in front. We pointed it out to the kids and Carson was of course the most excited. He's comment was "I LOVE Canada!" and still talks about it. See, all you need is a T-rex and Carson will love you forever! We made it to the in law's in Raymond, Alberta around 7 o'clock that night. The next day, Saturday, Dayv and I went into Lethbridge without the kids and did a little shopping and of course eating at the Dynasty (a Chinese buffet restaurant that Dayv HAS to eat at). That night Michael, Christy and Family arrived. Sunday we all went to church. They sang 'Oh Canada' (which I missed b/c I was in the mother's room) and 'God Save the Queen' which was a little interesting. I actually spent a lot of time in the mother's room which I must say is the best mother's room I've ever been in. They even deliver the sacrament! Monday Michael, Christy, Dayv and I along with the babies all went back into Lethbridge for some more shopping and pick up of HUMONGO order of more Chinese food (are you picking up a pattern here?). I think we ended up eating that Chinese food for three days straight (Dayv even had it for Breakfast)! Tuesday we went on a field trip to the Raymond museum. Dayv and Michael found a relative in one of the books and there was even a piano that Michael took lessons on as a child (Now, there's a way to tell you're old!). We then took the kids to the park. Wednesday was Canada Day (Canada's independence day). They had a parade in the morning and then we went back to the house for a wiener roast and toasted marshmallows afterward. That evening there was a carnival "downtown" and everything was FREE! The kids had A LOT of fun at that. We then watched fireworks that night. Thurday we went to Writing-On-Stone which is a provincial park. They have rock formations called Hoodoos that the kids got to climb all over. We then had lunch and then headed over to the beach/river. This is Landon (on the left) and Christian. They both enjoyed a nice nap on the beach. Friday we took another field trip to the Pharmasave and let the kid's all pick out a candy bar (they were happy). Saturday we made our way back home, stopping at my parents once again for 4th of July fireworks. The only problem we had on the way back was Noah got constipated and therefore VERY uncomfortable but it was still not a bad trip home at all.