Are you serious?

I ended up taking Gavin BACK to the doctor's today because last night he was very grumpy and was not acting like himself. He sat on my lap for an hour and watched Winnie the Pooh. If you know Gavin, you know that he doesn't sit still for longer than 30 seconds. He slept all night, so that was good. Then this morning, all he wanted was for me to hold him. He just kept crying and crying. I tried to look at his throat, but he fought me. He wouldn't eat much for breakfast or lunch. After about a 45 minute nap, he woke up crying. I decided to attempt checking his throat again. I finally got a look and he has white spots all over his tonsils. I got into the doctor right before 5:00 and sure enough, he has strep throat! I wish I would have had him checked yesterday when I hauled all 3 of them in there. Oh well. I am kind of glad it's strep so he can be treated. So off we go to Disneyland with all of our kids on antibiotics!

Topsy Turvy 2008

A few years ago, my family decided to make up a holiday in January since it's kind of a depressing month. Well, we really didn't make it up. We took the idea from the Disney movie The Hunchback of Notre Dame. There is a song in the movie called Topsy Turvy where they have a festival of fools on the 6th of January. We haven't done it every year but we decided to celebrate this year, just later in the month. Some of us dressed up (everyone was supposed to), we played games, and ate food. This year we each brought a white elephant gift. It was a lot of fun; just something different to do during this dreary time of year! Thanks Karen and Heidi afor planning pretty much everything!

This is what my dad came up with for his costume. Don't ask!

Here's Karen's hubby, Christian. Do you like his fairy wings?

This is Lindsay dressed as Shirley Temple. We had done her hair in curlers that day and she said, "I look like Shirley Temple. Can I wear a dress like her?"




Zane in his Festival of Fools mask and hat.



We put Gavin's clothes on backwards, rolled up his jeans and spiked his hair.

I just put on unmatching clothes and my snow boots. Dan dressed up Hawaiian style.

Dan also decided to shave down the middle of his head. He shaved the rest of it off that night. Actually, I really like it shaved really short. He says he's trying to embrace his baldness.

Dan playing Pin the Hat on Quasimodo

Lindsay is singing "I Gotta Go My Own Way" from High School Musical 2 on the Wii.

This is what Dan and I got for our White Elephant gift from mom and dad. It is siding samples that they had from when they re-did the siding on their house.

I know this is really gross! This is the white elephant gift we brought. We bought the white bowl which somewhat resembles a toilet, put lemon jello in it and added tootsie rolls. We taped the toilet paper on the side. Melissa and Chad were the lucky winners!

Sick of kids being sick!

So I've decided that I'm so sick of having sick kids! I haven't yet counted, but I have been to the doctor's office over 20 times in the past year. Not to mention the 2 days at Primary Children's Hospital last March for Gavin's Croup. I do have to say that I am grateful to have a doctor that is only 3 minutes away, with receptionists and nurses who know us all by name because of our frequent visits and I am very grateful to have insurance. So this week Lindsay is getting over her cold and cough but started getting a fever, hot and cold chills and achey. Gavin is still getting over his cough and cold (RSV stuff) but got another ear infection (this makes 9 ~ 7 before he got tubes and now 2 since). Not to mention he's so grumpy. Zane has been the healthiest this time. He only has a little congestion and that was it until the past few days. He gets these little pimple-like bumps on his body that he's gotten since he was a baby. They itch, so he scratches them and sometimes they get infected. A little over 2 years ago we took him to a Dermotologist and he didn't quite know what to call it but he gave us a cream (Dermatop) that works great. We haven't had any problems for a long time. Well, we recently ran out of his cream and I (slacker-mom) kept forgetting to call in a refill for it. So there is one of these little bumps on his leg that he's been scratching and now it's about the size of a quarter and is gross looking. Last night we noticed that about 1/2 an inch away from it was this big red spot that looked like a spider bite and was warm to the touch. This morning it was huge and Zane said it hurt. So I decided to not go in to teach dance today and took ALL 3 into the doctor's to be checked. Lindsay and Gavin both had fevers. Lindsay's strep test came back negative (I thought she might have it) but she has an ear infection. Gavin's ear infection is looking better so I just have to continue the ear drops for a couple more days. Zane's leg is infected, that is why it's all red! If you ask Zane what's wrong with his leg he'll say "there's an ear infection on my leg." Funny! SO, I've got Lindsay and Zane on antibiotics and I'm getting the cream he needs refilled so he doesn't have another outbreak! We're leaving to Disneyland in 3 days. I'm praying they all get healthy and stay that way, at least until we get back! The picture above is of Zane's leg (in case you couldn't tell). The scabby sore at the top is where he scratched until it got infected. The redness below that is the infection that has spread. Poor kid. I think I should win mother of the year for not getting his cream refilled and causing an infection!

President Hinckley 1910-2008

I can truly say that I am deeply saddened about the passing of President Gordon B. Hinckley. I know I probably shouldn't say I have a favorite prophet but he is my favorite. He was the prophet for almost half my life so far. I remember President Benson a little. He was good friends with my Grandma and Grandpa Skousen and he came to their 50th Anniversary in 1986 and I had the chance to meet him. I was only 8 but it is a special memory. My mom took us kids to his public viewing after he passed away and I remember that. Because President Hunter was only the prophet for a short time, I don't remember much. I heard the news about President Hinckley while at my parent's house last night at about 8:00. Heidi's fiance, Jeff, texted her saying he had died. We all couldn't believe it so we quickly turned on the tv to see the breaking news. Of course, Lindsay heard us and went running downstairs to tell all of her cousins. Then she wanted to start calling any family and friends she could think of. I told her she could call Karen and Christian (who had just left my parent's). I was glued to the news until 11:00 last night when we got home. It didn't really hit me until they showed people down at Temple Square singing "We Thank Thee Oh God for a Prophet." That is when I started to cry. I feel like President Hinckley was so connected to the youth of the church, well, actually everyone, mormon or non-mormon. I know people who are not members of the church and they loved him too. What an amazing example he has been. I LOVED his sense of humor. He always made us laugh during his conference talks. I am so grateful that he was able to be our prophet for so many years and will miss him, but I know he is with his sweetheart again and that they are happy together. I am grateful to be a part of this true church and for the knowledge that we have of life after death. We love you President Hinckley!

Gavin is sick!

So last Thursday, Gavin started getting a cold and cough. It got worse through the weekend and he was not sleeping well AT ALL! Because my nephew, Nathan, had just recently been hospitalized with RSV (he's home and doing good, by the way!) Dan and I watched him carefully so we could catch any symptoms. After 3 sleepless nights of Gavin coughing, crying, weezing every 5 minutes, I decided to take him into the doctor yesterday to have him checked. The doctor said he has RSV, but not too serious to hospitalize him ~ yet. So we're supposed to give him Benedryl, lots of fluids and a humidifier and watch for the other symptoms (fever of 104 or above, more weezing than he was and/or deeper stomache retractions). Well, last night, Dan and I got 7 1/2 full hours of sleep! Not one of the kids woke up (well, if they did, we didn't hear them!). Gavin perked up a little more today. So hopefully we're almost out of the woods. Lindsay and Zane both have colds and Lindsay has a cough. So we're just staying home all week to get better. We have a trip coming up next week and we want to be healthy! Cross your fingers!

Pray for Nathan

Our nephew, Nathan (Karen & Christian's baby) has been at Primary's Children Hospital since last night because he has RSV and he's extremely dehydrated. They were hoping he'd be able to go home this morning but he's still not having wet diapers so they are keeping him until at least Saturday morning. This picture was taken last spring (it was one of the only pics I have of him) at Disneyland. Nathan is on the left, Carter is in the middle (Jenny's baby) and Gavin is on the right. Please keep Nathan in your prayers!

Engaged!

My sister Heidi is ENGAGED!!!!!! We're so excited for her and Jeff! The wedding is set for April 18th in the Bountiful Temple! We love you!

Line up!

The past couple of months, we've noticed that Gavin likes to line things up in a row. The first time we noticed it was at Dan's parent's house when he lined up a few toy cars, bumper to bumper, all facing the same direction. Then he did it again a couple weeks later. The week after New Year's, I was downstairs excercising and turned around to see that Gavin had pulled about 10 DVD's off the shelf and lined them in a row. Well the other day, I was cooking dinner and he came in, started scooting the dining room chairs around and he lined them in a perfect row, then got up on one of them, as if it were a train! So, we're not sure if this kid has a little OCD or just likes order. I guess we'll have to see as he gets older.

Christmas Video 2007 (make sure to pause the music at the bottom of our blog before watching the video)

We have a tradition on Heather's side of the family, where every Christmas, each of Heather's siblings and their families makes a Christmas video (with the editing help of Heather's dad) and then we all watch them on Christmas Eve. It's been fun to see what different ideas we all come up with. The kids were very cooperative when filming ours. We want to give a big "thanks" to Grandpa Harry for his help with editing ours and also a big "thanks" to Lindsay and Zane's good friends, Lydia, Cole and Macie, for being our "friends" and saying "yoo-hoo!". Hope you enjoy!

Christmas 2007

Here's Zane on Christmas Eve, performing his part he had in his Preschool program and my favorite - Chubby Snowman!

We're All in This Together!

So the Friday before Christmas, we had the chance to go up to East High School and get a tour of the school, where they filmed High School Musical, from a good friend, Ceciley Hallman, who is a Senior there. The kids thought it was so cool, and so did their mother! Thanks Ceciley!



The picture and video above are in the Cafeteria.

Lindsay and Zane sitting on the bleachers in the gym trying to Get Their Heads in the Game! HAHAHAHAHA! I'm funny!

A blurry pic of Gavin with gym behind him. They were having Basketball practice so we couldn't really do much in there.

Here they are standing in front of Sharpay's locker (second one from the right). Of course in the movies, it was painted pink.

This is Miss Darbus' classroom. The masks above were really used in 2nd movie (maybe the 1st too). They decided to leave them up. So next time you watch the song "What Time is It?" look for the masks in the background of the classroom and this is where my kids are standing!

This little area was used in both films too. When looking down below, you can see the hallway where they did some of the dancing in "What Time is It?"