We shot guns, bows and arrows, launched bottle rockets, ate yummy food, and played a sharp shooter game where the kids shot shaving cream off the adult's noses with a squirt bottle.
Sunday was Cathryn's blessing. Immediately following Ryan took off for home. Afterward we went to the park to eat and feed the ducks.
This wasn't the best picture, but look at this! Definitely daddy's girl.
One fun thing we did was go to Puppy Barn. It's a place that lets people come play with puppies for free, hoping that they might take one home.
And then we went for ice cream at Macey's. Delicious. I got a strawberry/coconut one and it was AMAZING.
Our sweet Rayola came to visit. We love her so much! We are so lucky to have her.
Pierscen found a snail at Oma's and he and Kris loved playing with it. They are great pals.
One of our first fun outings was going to the zoo. We went with Necia and Isabel and met up with our cousin Laura and her kids. I haven't seen Laura in YEARS! It was awesome to see them!
Every time I mentioned going to the zoo, Pierscen kept talking about the "round thing with the dead animals." It took me forever to realize he was talking about the merry-go-round. So he was pretty dang happy to get to ride it again.
I love how Abby was trying to get Devry to throw the ball. Dogs are funny.
It was so nice to be able to go to the Temple again. It really is incredible to have so many temples in such a short distance.
Sunday was Mother's Day. I am so grateful for the joy these two munchkins have brought to my life.
We made another trip out to Fairfield to see Oma while she took care of Great Grandpa.
The next fun thing we did was meet up with Lindsay and her kiddos. We really miss her!
We decided to meet up a park in Orem. When we pulled into the parking lot, I asked Pierscen if he recognized the car next to us. He said, "That's Logan's car!" I was super impressed he remembered. We haven't seen them in about six months, and he hasn't seen their car in almost a year.
They met up at the playground and gave each other a big hug.
These cute gals were due exactly a month apart, but Maren came early by a few weeks.
The boys spent a bunch of time by the pond. This Yellow Headed Black Bird was amazing to watch. He was not at all afraid of kids and he kept puffing up his feathers and making some interesting sounds. Pretty sure he was defending his turf. A big group of kids arrived and they were swarmed by lots of birds. One of the parents had a giant container of animal crackers. Pierscen just invited himself over to get some to feed the birds... and a few seconds later disappeared around a tree to eat them himself. Haha.
It was really great to see them and I am so grateful that Lindsay was willing to drive up from Price to meet up with us.
While in Utah, I set up an appointment for Pierscen's head to be checked.I made sure to set up the appointment in Provo so I wouldn't have to drive to Salt Lake. A week or so before we went to Utah, they called to say they weren't having clinic in Provo so we would need to reschedule in Riverton. I was bummed and kind of annoyed, but what can you do. So Oma and I decided that we would go to his appointment and then go to the Aquarium. We had never been and thought it would be fun. Plus, Cameron, Kris and Kathryn decided to join too.
So Oma and I got to his appointment in Riverton where we were told that Plastics doesn't meet there on Wednesdays. The only doctors in that office were Urologists. Yeah, not what we wanted. I was super frustrated. I noticed a sign on the window that said plastics meets there on Thursdays. So I called the office and explained the situation. The girl I spoke to said that they actually hold their clinic at the Riverton location on Tuesdsays. What?!? I tried not to cry or scream as I once again told her that we had come all the way from Wyoming and that they were the ones that called and rescheduled this appointment. URG! So she said if we were able to drive to Murray, they could get us right in. Well what were our options? So we drove to Murray. I didn't know this location existed, and it was soon apparent why. This was the OTHER side of the plastics office. Wink wink, nudge nudge. Haha. Very posh. And very much geared toward the female clients.
We waited 45 minutes to an hour before we were seen. I was trying not to get sippy with them. (Come on! There is reserved parking out front for 15 min botox!) At last a young female Dr came in. (P's doctor retired). I can tell you this much - there's a reason she's a doctor. She did an excellent job at diffusing the situation and making me feel less angry. And she was awesome. I had gone into this appointment with the intention of "breaking off the long distance relationship." I really didn't see a reason for us to keep going back year after year, but she did a fantastic job helping me to understand things and what they are looking for.
I learned that if at any point I wanted them to "fix" something, then they can and will and it will all be tied to the original surgery as far as costs and insurance goes. (P does have some remaining "dents" in his head that don't really bother me, but if they become more pronounced or if he grows self conscious about them, we can do something about it.) But mostly they are looking for small hole or things that didn't fill in. She did find a couple of tiny holes on the side of his head that probably won't make a difference, but that is the kind of thing she would watch over the next little while. It is impossible to tell with just feeling if they are actually holes or just shallow impressions. So at some point they may do a CT scan to determine what, if anything needs to be done. If they are holes, they would likely opt to fill them in. Even though they are tiny, if they are holes, any head trauma in that area would be worse because there is no protection for the brain. And we are talking tiny holes, so it's not a big deal, but it's things like that. And she said that there are mood and behavior flags that could signify something is wrong that they would go over each appointment as well. She made the comment that she would hate it if something were to go wrong and the mom feel responsible simply because they didn't know. No, I didn't feel guilted by the comment. It made sense and resonated with me. It would be horrible to find something could have been prevented, but wasn't. Now I don't think he is in any danger at all. His head isn't perfectly shaped, but he is a very normal, energetic, smart little boy and I'm so grateful to have him. And beyond thankful for modern medicine. And yes, I will be keeping my yearly appointments.
These black and white fresh water stingrays were Pierscen's favorite. They were one of the first things we saw when we got there and he wouldn't leave until he had gone back to watch them again. It was a really fun experience.
When we got back to my parents, our neighbor was helping to scoop up dirt/rocks from our backyard with his bobcat and put it in the truck to haul away. (He's just super nice.)
He let Pierscen climb up and actually drive the thing. This machine didn't have any foot pedals, so Pierscen really did do it all with some instruction. It was hilarious to watch, but he did it and LOVED it!
So the single picture below is the "real" reason I went to Utah. Everything else was bonus. The LDStorymakers Conference!!! Woot! Um... it seems incredibly backyard to have the main reason for my trip be the shorted here - but it deserves an entire post of it's own. So assuming I will get around to it... let's just say it was AMAZING. I learned SO much! It is a phenomenal experience and worth every penny. Can't wait to book my next conference. :)
Below: breathing difficulties strike again. Plus he was showing his wicked blood blister from getting his hand pinched in the closet. I had much better pictures of it somewhere. Ouch. Good lesson learned though. (I've told him a billion times to keep his hand away from the hinges, but sometimes I guess you have to learn the hard way.)
And a cute picture of Dev. :)
One evening, the kids and I had dinner with Philip, Chelsey and their kids. It was so much fun! We don't see them much when we are out there so it was really nice to just have an evening as siblings and cousins. Love you guys!
Little miss made some great progress in the sitting up division while we were out there. Look how poised she is!
I also scheduled an ophthalmology appointment for P while we were out there because there are no pediatric ophthalmologists in town and none that will even see pediatric patients. I could have gone to Denver - but why? We were technically already established patients in Utah. The reason I wanted to have him checked is that he has developed a wandering eye. When he looks far left, his right eye turns up. So I thought we would have it checked out.
P did a pretty good job and I think it helped that Isabel was there to keep him company.
We had such a fantastic time! It was so good to see Katie. I haven't seen her in ages. Her mom was there too, and even paid for us to get in and eat lunch. THANK YOU!
Katie was a trooper and climbed around and chased Pierscen while I held Devry.
The picture below is horrible, but they had this fun weighing machine that would give you your weight in animals or bugs. If I am reading that right she is 0.001 hippo, 0.043 jaguar, and 10,606 grasshoppers.
I think P could have spent forever at the water table. At least in this picture you can see Lola and Charlotte, two of Katie's four.
We walked around the nature paths outside and played at the playground before getting lunch. It was a really great experience. Love you Katie!
Another food picture - Kara is amazing. Caramel apple roses. Nom nom nom.
We made one last visit to see Opa before leaving. (Oma was taking care of her dad.)
P thought it was pretty cool to sit on a boat that Ryan's uncle brought over to work on. It's the small things. :)
We that, we took off for the home with Kara and my dad. It was so nice of them to drive us all the way home!
I have to add that as wonderful as these three weeks were, none of it would have been possible without my wonderful mom. She watched my kids constantly, fed us, took care of us, let me use their car, and ran us around to meetings and appointments. I've realized that I don't have any pictures besides just the one at the eye doctor and that is something I will definitely rectify in the future. My parents are amazing and I can't say enough about them. Thank you mom, for making this trip possible!
Saturday was my dad's birthday. There was a big dinosaur show in town that we were planning on going to, but we had heard some disappointing reviews. So instead we drove up on the mountain and then took them to a yummy Chinese buffet at the mall. (Dad loves a good Chinese buffet.) Later we walked by the river and barely made it back to the car before the torrential downpour began. It was awesome.
I know they both really wanted to go fishing, but it didn't happen this trip. They will just have to come back another time. :) Thank you again for driving us home Dad!
The rest of the month was pretty low key.
And to end - pictures of Devry, because she's adorable.
And enjoying time by the river. Pierscen found a reed that he was using as his fishing pole. Ryan would throw a rock real close to P in the water when he wasn't looking and he would gasp and put his reed where the splash had been anticipating a fish. Ryan and I thought we were really fooling him until he yelled, "Dad! Throw a rock over here so I can pretend to catch a fish!" Yeah he was totally playing us! Good times. :)
