Lagoon!!!

It turned out that Brittnie and her family had to be in Salt Lake the same weekend we were up there for Paige's doctor appointments.  So we invited ourselves along on their Lagoon trip - and we had a BLAST!  We actually got there before they did - so I was on my own with five kids for a few hours.  This is how we started out - the twins HATE to be strapped into the stroller - and the big kids wish that they could ride in the stroller (Ethan and Abby actually ended up in it later :).

I really didn't want to let them out of the stroller quite yet - so we found a way to keep them happy for a while - yep, it involved food, more specifically - CHURRO'S!

We let the boys ride a few rollercoasters at the first (there were hardly any lines first thing) and then they were good sports to take the girls on a few rides.  This was Abby's favorite ride - she ended on this ride as well!

 Paige loved the "l-fant".

Piper and the bug.

 Abby rode the helicopter with Paige,

 while Ethan rode with Piper.  Miles was too tall for most of the little kid rides - poor guy!

The twins didn't really ride this next ride.  They were all smiles until I finished taking pictures and went out of the gate to wait - then Piper started crying which made Paige cry - anyway, we watched Abby ride it.  As soon as Abby got done, the twins decided they did want to ride it, but I didn't trust them much (I thought the same thing would have happened as soon as we waited in the line again) - so we didn't ride it, but I included the pictures anyway.

 We then took a bit of an intermission from Lagoon and ran back to Grandma and Grandpa Gilmore's for a family lunch.  I then put the twins down for a nap and left them with Grandma while we went back to Lagoon to play with the cousins.   Abby has always loved carosels - this time Lainey and Katie loved it a little more that Abby did - but I loved the different animals so I included this non-smiling Abby.

 Abby also loved a little boat ride - here she is with a complete stranger (the guy running the ride thought they were sisters evidently) - they were great friends though by the time the ride was over.

Here she is later on that evening with her "best friend" Katie.  Notice the boat color is the same - Abby out-sprinted all the other kids to get that color - she is my pink girl!

Thanks Britt and Greg for letting us tag along - Greg took the big kids on the roller coaster rides while I stayed with Abby.  He even let them go on the go-carts - they loved it!  It was a really fun family activity - the boys even went so far as to say it was just as fun as Disneyland!

"Happy Day, Mama"

Well - I'm "one year older and wiser too" today.  At least I hope I am wiser - this past year has given me plenty of opportunities to grow in the wisdom department.  The kids sang happy birthday to me this morning and then I got to listen to Piper chant the rest of the day "Happy Day, Mama!"  WhenI got to school - a few of my students came in during first period to interview me for the school paper - one of the questions they asked was when my birthday was.  So - all of my classes were made aware that today was my birthday and I got sang to in every class (some were a lot more musically inclined than others:).  My biggest surprise of the day was when I picked the girls up from Miss Amy's house.  They had helped Miss Amy bake me a cake - yes, Abby had told Miss Amy that it was my birthday and she helped the girls bake me a cake (Abby told me she even got to crack the eggs).  They were all so proud of the cake - which led to a few tantrums because there was only one cake and 3 girls who each wanted to carry it.  I finally got two of the three to pose for a picture - Piper was still upset that Abby carried the cake instead of her.

My visiting teachers stopped by with a present and then we were off to a soccer practice before meeting my parents for dinner and cake at David's house in Hurricane.  Emily had made my favorite cake - carrot cake - and then as I was leaving she sent us home with another whole cake that she had made.  So I get to eat birthday cake for at least a week!  As I was getting the kids in bed - another knock at the door and my good friends Laura, J'Neal and Marcel had come by with a present as well.  Then - after kids were down, I turned on the computer and had 40+ happy birthday messages.  What a great day!  Thanks all!

Another Clean Bill of Health!!!

 Just wanted to give a quick update - it has been another 3 months since our last MRI and CT scan - so the Gilmore clan made the familiar trip to Primary Children's Hospital this weekend.  Paige had the tests on Thursday - and the whole experience was TONS better than previous ones.  First of all - in the past when we went for tests, we have had to wait between 1-2 hours before the sedation.  This might not be so bad if Paige hadn't been fasting all day and has a few of my genes in her.  We are SUPER cranky when hungry!!!  Anyway - this time - there was a little tykes police car in our hall and the hour and a half that we had to wait seemed like 20 minutes - it was SOOOOOOO nice!  Sorry for the blurry picture - she wouldn't hold still for the picture.

Paige didn't even fuss when they put the IV in - she just flinched a bit - I don't know if that is good or bad though.  I don't like when she cries, but it makes me think she is used to pain if it doesn't hurt even a little bit.  She likes the pink "cast" that they give her and even teased the nurse by pretending to drink out of the IV.  Her personality has been really coming out lately.  They gave her a "prize" out of the treasure box for being such a good patient - she chose sidewalk chalk to share with her sisters.

 They gave her a new medicine this time - and I really liked it.  She woke up right away after the tests and wasn't nearly as uncordinated as with the other medicine.  Still a little cranky - but it didn't seem to last as long as before.  We had to wait until our appointment with Dr. Jones on Friday to get the results of the tests.  GREAT NEWS!!!  The tests all looked normal - we are so grateful!  Here is the little tyke in front of her favorite horse - sure do love this girl, cheesy smile and all!

We celebrated the rest of the weekend by going to Lagoon - I have lots of pictures to post about that trip - hopefully I will have a few minutes to do that sometime this week.