Playing in the Rain

We had a yardsale this morning, which became tricky with 6 grandchildren on the premises. To get them away from merchandise (and customers) I decided to get them to play pass with me with a football. The kids were really enjoying it and then... the monsoon rolled in. But there was no lightening so I told the kids we could continue to play in the rain. Eventually they dropped the ball and just started to run around enjoying the outside shower. Too bad I didn't grab my camera until the end (and after most kids had called it quits).

Our Week in Page

Daddy's here!

Daddy's gone!

We had a whirlwind week with Kaylon after he flew in. We rented a car and drove up to Page the morning after he got in. It was great to spend time with our McInelly/Bunting family.

We spent a day on Rick's boat out on Lake Powell. We got to see Antelope Canyon and play on the "beach" (it didn't have real sand, that's why I put it in quotations).

Liliana had a traumatic experience in the pool a few weeks ago (walked off into the deep end) and so getting her into the water was like pulling teeth, but eventually we got her to forget by putting mud on daddy.

Early saturday morning I woke up to Kaylon throwing up, breathing lorbored, and shakily getting himself into the living room recliner. He had spent the last four hours in the bathroom violently sick. He asked for some IB Profen for the body aches he was feeling. I was skeptical that he could keep it down, but gave him one anyway. That's when his tongue swelled up and his breathing got really bad. I called the insurance nurse and she said to take him to the ER. After some benedryl, anti-nasuea meds, and steroid he was able to fall asleep. The doctors think it was an allergice reaction to the IB Profen. We'll have to figure that out for sure when we get home.

Kaylon decided he felt better enough to go to the family reunion that was scheduled that day in Blanding, Utah. So I drove him and Moira (the older girls had left with Grandma Elyse) almost falling asleep myself most of the way. But we arrived safely and just in time for the end of the auction. We foundo ut quickly that there was a homemade doll with a lilac colored dress that Grace had put a claim on at the beginning of the day. The family had decided to leave it to the end so that we could bid on it. We let Grace do the bidding since she was so excited. There was a little back and forth for a few bids, but I guess Grace had had enough with dollor incrememts. After some bid about $15, she excitedly yelled out, "100 dollars!" As you can imagine, this brought down the house. They let us adjust our bid back to $16 and we continued. The bidding went up to $26 (to us) and the autioneer was calling for any last bids. "$27, anyone for $27?" So Grace yells out, "Twenty- seven!" Everyone laughed again. We won the doll for $26, and Grace will be working for us for free for quite a while.

We were back in Page by Sunday evening after driving through Monument Valley. We spent some time with Kaylon's sister Lynae and her 3 girls Haley, Mekenzie, and Maddison at the house and at the marina swimming pool. And then all too soon Tuesday came and we were driving down to Queen Creek again.

And then even quicker we were having to say goodbye to Kaylon when he got on his plane wednesday at noon. Grace especially took the goodbyes hard and Liliana wanted to go on the airplane with him. I'm glad that we had the time that we did, but I miss him so much already. Less than a month though!

Kittens

Two posts in the same week?! Crazy! Must be getting into a routine now...

So I need to do a post on the kittens. They are a huge part of the girls' lives here. Everyday they run to the neighbors' yard and find "their" kitten. Grace's is the black one, Liliana's is the gray. And then they carry those cats everywhere- hold them, hug them, kiss them, talk to them, scold them... They look forward to it everyday, which makes it great leverage.

And before I post pictures, I warn you that you will probably notice some haircuts. The good news is, we finally defeated the lice. The bad news is that we lost a lot of hair in the process. Liliana's has always been short, but I tried bangs on her this time and I don't really like it. And while Grace's cut is super cute, I prefer it long. But we're making the best of it. And enjoying so itch- free heads!

Week Two

Week two is come and gone. One more week until we get to see Kaylon! Woohoo!


Our second week was fairly uneventful. We did have a yard sale on Saturday and got rid of some stuff. We'll probably have a few of those while I am here. I listed a bunch of things on craigslist as well. Mom's only taking what she can fit into the back of her Xterra, so pretty much everything HAS to go. Course giving or throwing away everything you've accumulated in your life isn't the easiet thing. But, every day we get closer.


Our days are filled with trips to see the kittens, swimming in the kiddie pool, TV, and Grandma's toys. When we can get a vehicle we take a trip to the store.



Our friends the Packers, from Connecticut came over for a visit. They bought a house in the west valley and were out to work on it. We love visiting with them and it was a nice break in the week.

Grandma Elyse and Uncle Tylor came down to visit yesterday. We met Uncle Klye for dinner and visited for a while. Today we're going to go the Hamilton pool. I managed to get some pictures yesterday.

Week One

I can't believe that we've already been in Queen Creek for a week! It has been so amazing to see my family again- especially knowing that it's not the last time that I'll see them for two years; that I have a month or two to see them on a regular basis. It's so neat to have my kids get to know their aunts and uncles and cousins- people I talk about but before this trip didn't make a connection with. Makes me really wish that we could live closer to them.

The other highlight for the girls are the kittens and the chickens. Our nextdoor neighbors (and longtime friends) have two chicken coops and a family of cats. Every day we make at least trip to the neighbors backyard to see them all. There are two kittens- the two older girls have each claimed a kitten as their own. They name them (daily) and treat them like their own personal baby dolls. The kittens allow them to carry them around the yard, put them "to bed," kiss and hug them, etc. I am amazed that the kittens have not clawed one of them yet. They keep asking to take them home with us, but we're not ready for kitties yet.

The girls are now starting to really miss their daddy. Liliana often asks when we're going on an airplane to go see daddy. Technology is such a blessing, though. We talk to Kalon on Skype almost every night. Each girl gets about 10 minutes on the computer to talk to him and they all love it. As soon as Moira sits down she starts blowing him kisses and playing peekaboo. Liliana tries to tickle him and poke his belly. Grace tells him all about her day and her opinions about the events. It's neat to see all the different levels, but how they all get something out of it.

I spend my time being a mom (can't get away from that one) and helping mom pack up her house. We have decided that Mom will move out to Virginia to live with us this fall. She can no longer work (she can't stand for long periods of time- for example, she needs to use the motorized carts at the grocery store) and she needs someone to be home with her during the day to help with doctors appointments, etc. I am thrilled to be able to do this for her. She has one more appointment before we can be sure that the hormone treatment is working, and after that we will set some moving dates. So far she is feeling better and has more energy, even though she still has pain from her tumors. Thank you for all your prayers, which I know have sustained her through this time.

Happy 4th of July

We spent ours at a family get-together at Stephen's. It was a great time, as seen in these pictures :)

All the grandkids together!

We Made It!

We have arrived in 'Arizonia' (as Grace calls it). The flight was hard, but not harder than I expected. We barely made our flight- security look longer than I expected at Dulles and we got to the gate about 10 minutes before it closed. Some very nice people helped me entertain the girls and collect my stuff- I am so grateful for them! There was even a family with 3 kids who we got to hang out with quite a bit since we took the same connection flight as well. When we finally did get on the flight, the girls were excited at first. But then we had to sit on the runway for a half an hour. Liliana informed me then that she wanted to go with Daddy instead. (Too bad.) Grace was worried about take-off and clung to her arm rest as we finally took off. After that, it was exciting and no longer scary. Moira slept once on each flight. She didn't like having to sit on my lap- she wanted to get up and walk around, but again, oh well. Luckily I had packed well- games, coloring books, some toys, movies, and snacks- which kept them all mostly occupied. I even got to do 1.5 sudoku puzzles! Didn't think that would actually happen.

I have to say, I'm so glad this isn't a 'normal' vacation where I'd have to do that again in 2 short weeks. I'm glad that I have a month to recover!