Sick Little Matthew

My poor little Matthew.  He has had a fever since about Tuesday of last week.  He also has croup - but that hasn't been too bad.  I took him to the doctor on Wednesday and they treated him for croup and that definitely helped.  But his fever just won't go away.  Even after giving him Motrin and Tylenol (alternating every 3 hours), his fever never goes below 100.  He does feel a lot better once the medicine kicks in.  But once his fever gets back up, he is out of it (as you can see in the pictures).  I took him to the doctor again on Saturday (no soccer game for him - or school for the last 2 days) and still no strep.  Hopefully his fever is gone by Monday - otherwise, the doctor says he needs to come back.  What fun!  

Backyard Soccer Fun

Ed is such a great dad.  After a long, rough day at work, he came home and played soccer in the backyard with the boys.  Brecken even tried to get in on the action (but couldn't quite make it out of the house).  The boys had a great time.  But poor little Matthew - he has been sick for the past 2 days (croup) but he had motrin in him and couldn't pass up playing with his dad.  So, he played - but by the time he got in, he was feeling horrible.  Hopefully, he will be feeling better by morning.

It's just a costume!

Gavin never ceases to amaze me.  The other day (actually, he has done this many time over the last couple of weeks) he had his dinosaur costume on (like he does frequently - that or a PowerRangers costume) and I said something about Dinosaur Gavin.  He replied and said,

"No, I not a dinosaur.  This is just a costume.  I am Gavin."

Pretty smart little guy if you ask me!

Dallin's Sidewalk Art

It is hard to see in the pictures, but Dallin made a fabulous town on the basketball court out of chalk. Usually, he sticks to the deck, but his town was way too big for the deck. He spent hours drawing it and he loved every minute of it. He got worried when he heard a storm was coming so I took pictures to help calm him down. It was a good thing I did take pictures - he rained a little that night and a lot the next night (it is pouring as I am typing).

Yuba Lake

Hard Day

11 years ago today, my dad died from cancer.  This year for some reason it hit me a lot harder (maybe due to lack of sleep).  It didn't help that I couldn't find many pictures of him today (the ones above are the only ones I could find) - that made it really hard for some reason.  There are so many things I miss about him and reasons I wish he was here.  

A few reasons why I wish he were here:

• to meet Ed
• to take my boys to football games
• to go to my boys' soccer games
• to see me as a mom
• to give me advise
• to give me a hug
• to take care of my mom (so she wasn't so lonely and so she didn't have to work so hard)
• and a million other reasons

Memories I have of him:

• watching detective shows with me
• asking silly questions about what is happening in a TV show or movie
• saying he has never seen a movie before until 2 hours into it and then finally realizing he had seen it
• riding horses
• him making me branding cows (and breaking needle after needle in the cows)
• going to Disneyland & the beach
• going camping & fishing
• helping me with my homework
• always being there for me
• going on round-ups
• and about a million more

He was such a great man and the best dad in the world.  I really do miss him!

Breckidy Brecken

My little Breckidy Brecken (which is one of his little nicknames - we sing him a song we made up that says Breckidy Brecken and it always makes him dance & smile) is growing up so fast.  He is just so much fun.  He crawls everywhere and now can pull himself up so he is standing  When he does stand up, he is almost always on his tippy toes - I think that is from being in his jumpy toy so much.  Before we know it, he is going to be walking!

Family Pictures

Hey - my cousin (actually my cousin's wife) Amanda is a photographer and does a fabulous job.  She took our family pictures last year (the ones on our Christmas card - if you didn't get a Christmas card from us, give me your address so I can send you one this year) and she took our family pictures when she was here a few weeks ago.  She would love to come back up here to Utah to do pictures for others if anyone is interested (and of course to see me and my family).  As long as 3 or 4 families book with her, she will fly up here and do them.  She has more info on her blog along with example pictures.  Check her out.  It would be a great opportunity to get family pictures just to have and/or for Christmas cards.  Here is her photography blog (shows lots of examples - you will see some of my family from last year) and here is her photo blog (that has her package deals and one picture of my boys from this year).  If you have questions, leave her a comment or I can give you her email address.  But if you do want her to take your pictures, let her now soon so we can get her to come back up.

Luncheon Recipes

Three of my friends have birthdays in August - so we had a birthday lunch for them today at my house.  It was so much fun to be with all the girls (and a ton of little kids that aren't old enough for school) in the middle of the day.  I hope we do it more often.  Anyway, I made fruit salsa, avocado eggrolls (from Cheesecake Factory), chocolate cake, mini-cheesecakes, and a mustard sauce (from Planet Hollywood).  I thought I would put the recipes on my blog for everyone to enjoy.  So, enjoy!  Also, let me know if you can read the recipes or if I need to use a different font.  I will change it if I need to.

Trip to Oregon

What a fabulous trip we had to Oregon to visit my sister Gina this summer (back in July).  She lives in The Dalles (about an hour East of Portland).  She has 2 cute little kids (Carlie - almost 4, and Berkeley - no almost 4 months old).  It was fun to go and see her (we take turns going to see each other in the summers).  It is an all day trip to get out there but it is worth it to go and see her and her family.  I just wish they lived closer so we could see each other more often.

Matthew's 1st Day of Kindergarten

Matthew had a rough start today.  At the beginning of the summer, Matthew was so excited for kindergarten.  But as it got closer, he started to get more and more scared.  Then this morning, he seemed okay about school - almost even excited.  When we first got to school, he was okay - especially when he saw his friend Austin and he got to play on the playground with him.  He was even okay when it was time to go into his classroom (even though he wouldn't let me take a picture of the 2 of us).  Once we got in there we did a list of things his teacher (Mrs. Fotheringham) had on the board for us to do.  Then it was time for me to leave - that is when he fell about.  He started to cry.  I tried bribing him with everything from pizza to a new wii game.  I thought I had him with the wii game but no luck.  Finally, his teacher had to hold him back (what a great start - having his teacher restrain him on the first day).  I will admit, I cried a little walking out to my car.  Luckily, one of my friends who has a little boy in the same class drove past me as I was getting into my car and told me that Matthew was fine.  She said that once Mrs. Fotheringham started to read a story, he calmed right down.  Thank heavens!  I seriously think I would have cried for the next 2.5 hours until it was time to pick him up.  

And boy what a different little guy he was when he came out of school.  He came running to me, ALL SMILES and telling me what a great time he had and that he was excited to go back tomorrow!  Cross your fingers for me that tomorrow goes well!
 

Crockpot Chicken Tacos

I am finally posting a recipe (it has been a long time - my college roommate/friend reminded me to post recipes again - it helps that I am cooking again).  This recipe comes from my friend Michelle T.  We are going camping tonight so I threw this together late last night so I can get it nice and cold to throw in a cooler and take with us.  It will taste so good camping - and it will be so easy.  All I will have to do is heat up the chicken up on the camping stove, put it in tortillas with cheese & salsa and that will be dinner (along with black bean salsa and chips).