The girls did great with their dance performance just before Christmas. They were really excited to have Amber surprise them by showing up with JennyLyn for their performance. We don't see Amber nearly enough since she moved to New York, so it was fun to see her while she was in town. We were able to get Andrew to the mall just in time for his singing performance, then Andrew & Ashley back to the church for their piano recital. Somehow, in the midst of all the performances, Ryan managed to lock all three of our keys to his car (including my key) in his car. At least his car was just parked in front of our house, but on a Saturday afternoon our options were slimming. He drove to Bountiful to try to get a new key cut, as that was the only Ford dealer parts shop that was open at that time, however their new machines couldn't cut his key. The dealer gave him the code he needed and sent him to another key cutting place, but they were closed. He then ran out of gas in the van and had to walk to get a container and gas. Hours later he made it home, still without a key. At the thought of spending at least $50 to get a locksmith out to help, I was not in a good mood. Finally, Ryan went out and jacked up his car and with a flash light he finally found his hide-a-key, very hidden, up under his car and was able to get the other keys out.
We had an enjoyable Christmas season spent with family and friends. The kids got a lot of clothes and craft supplies, as well as several boxes of Thank You cards, now we just need a roll of stamps so we can mail those cards out. Christmas morning we went to the Williams grandparents' house for a short visit, then headed down to Mary & Frank's to spend the rest of Christmas day with them and Jenny & Brent. After any enjoyable day of eating and visiting, we headed back home so I could get my work done for the day.
Tuesday after Christmas was a day of cleaning and catching up, preparing for Anna & Rob to spend the day with us on Wednesday. We were also getting things ready for our trip to California, planning to leave on Thursday.
Wednesday we picked up Anna & Rob and had a fun time with them at our place for the day. Then Andrew got into excited/anxious mode, wanting to get packed and get out on the road for our trip. I had to get my work caught up before we could go, so as I worked on that Andrew worked on "packing". I figured with a list he could at least pack clothes for himself and Austyn, though when we got to California Austyn didn't have any socks. (Luckily the girls' plain white socks were sufficient for mandatory sock days.) We were able to get on the road by 10:30 Thursday morning and only had minimal weather worries. There was only one point just before Cedar City that the snow was actually accumulated on the road and there were a couple slide-offs we passed. The kids each took turns quickly praying for our safety and the rest of our trip was fine. It was pretty windy for most of the drive, but I've been through worse. Adalyn did great for the first several hours, but by 6:00 PM she decided she was done for the day and DID NOT want to be in that car seat anymore. I tried to make a few calls to find someone home we knew in Las Vegas, but with no luck we kept driving and finally stopped at the border of Nevada and California for a rest. We were able to get out and walk around for a little while and take a bathroom break and I tried to feed Adalyn, though she was not interested in eating, she was just glad to be out of that seat. When our break was over we piled back into the van and put a very mad Adalyn back into her seat. She is very persistent and cried for quite a while after that until she finally fell asleep. As long as she was sleeping I did not want to make any unnecessary stops, so we drove all the way to Riverside without stopping for gas (last fill-up in Cedar City). As we entered the city limits I got nervous that we might run out of gas just miles away from our destination so we made a quick stop and just got enough to last us until we could fill up another day.
For some reason it was not easier to get my work done while we were in California, so I spent most days working and taking care of Adalyn, and didn't really get to do a lot of extra stuff. We did have one evening of games and visiting with friends, but besides that I don't think I even had time to sit and watch a whole movie while I was there. When coming home we were able to break up our trip into two days, leaving on Sunday and finishing the trip on Monday. We stayed overnight in St. George at the Crystal Inn, as I had a free night's stay there. I didn't get much sleep, worrying about the baby waking up in the night, but the kids loved it. Alexia wanted to stay another night. There was free breakfast in the morning and the Disney Channel, so the kids loved it. We made it from St. George to Orem without a stop and stopped in to visit Mary and the kids for a little while before going the last hour to home. Ryan was glad to have us home after ten days, he even shaved for the occasion. It was nice to be back in my own bed and if Adalyn hadn't been waking up every three hours that first night home, I would have slept great.
Before the kids started back to school Andrew, Ashley and Austyn went to the dentist and had their cavities filled. Alexia was spared the drill this time around, so was rewarded for no cavities. The kids enjoyed a few days of playing around the neighborhood before school started again the next Tuesday. They were only back a day before Alexia started coughing, which I assumed was just related to her reactive airways and the awful air quality we have had this winter. By Thursday she had a fever and Friday she was diagnosed, once again, with strep throat. She was sick through the weekend and Monday finally started improving. Tuesday she wanted to spend another day home, but as I knew she was feeling better I gave her her penicillin, an allergy pill and a breathing treatment and then dropped her off at school. Finally, I could clean. I washed all the sheets and pillow cases, vacuumed the floors and scrubbed all the surfaces that germy hands had been touching. Alexia was fine once she settled back into school and has been fine ever since. The rest of us have had some short respiratory infections, but no one else with strep throat this time. It is quite a relief to have everyone feeling better again.
I had a busy work week this past week, even having work on Saturday to help get caught up. This week is starting out a little slower, but tis the season for ER visits so it will be busy for a while.
Adalyn will be a year old in two weeks, it's hard to believe. She refuses to crawl, but rolls all around and will sit back up. She is still without hair and finally has one tooth that has broken through on the upper left of her mouth (kind of random). She is a happy baby and loves to make noises. She can whistle and will whistle when she sees the dog, or sometimes even when she sees a picture of a dog.
We have had weeks of very cold, smoggy weather and I am sooo ready for a change. At least it has been warming up and our days are finally getting above 32 degrees. Our first couple weeks home the temperature did not get much above 20 and our nights were regularly in single digits. We let the dog spend the days in the house to warm up for awhile, which he much appreciated. The first day we let him in Adalyn was quite frightened to see him up close (probably realizing he was quite a bit bigger than she.) After a day, however, she was no longer scared and would be excited to see him and would whistle to him when she was in the kitchen with him.
Well, that's about all the updating I have time for. I think Adalyn is wanting to visit with me for a little while before her nap. My next update will likely be after her birthday, so I will try to get some pictures to go along with that. That's all for now! Julie
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