A Little Weekend Trip

The past weekend Tyson had a long weekend.  So, we celebrated by going to St. George.  Oh, it was awesome.  I love St. George.  Swimming every day, temple trip, climbing on the red rocks, and of course Orange Peel boba drinks (for more info on those, go to this post).

Leila wasn't having a good time at the red rocks.  But the rest of us had a blast.

Tyson's sister, Lydia, came with us...we love Lydia.

Leila's favorite part was the temple.  She kept yelling "TEMPLE!"

It was a beautiful overcast day.  Wonderful weather.  Not too hot and not too cold.

A Call to Poison Control

I've never had to call poison control...until today.

Good old Leila...making sure I get all the experiences of motherhood.

I found her in the music room with a little open bottle.  She was pouring the contents all over her arms and legs like lotion.  She loves lotion.  I washed her off and didn't have much fear.  Then she started to cough like crazy and I could smell the oil on her breath.  I took a better look at the bottle and called poison control.

The conversation went something like this...

Poison Control:  "This is poison control.  May I help you?"

Me:  "My daughter just drank some valve oil."

PC:  "Valve oil?"

Me:  "Yeah, for instruments."

PC:  "Oh, ok."

Me:  "On the back it says that it contains petroleum and can be harmful if swallowed."

PC:  "Uh huh."

Me:  "And she's been coughing a lot ever since."

PC:  "Well, it looks like valve oil is only bad if it went into her lungs.  Which if she's coughing probably means it went into her lungs.  You should take her to the emergency room because even a drop in her lungs would spread quickly and could give her pneumonia or perhaps worse."

So, we took a little trip to the ER.

We waited cause the ER was slow, as it usually is.  The doctor checked her lungs with a stethoscope and said that it didn't sound like much was in the lungs.  Meaning, most likely everything was fine and her body would clear up on its own.  But they wanted to do an x-ray just in case.

Again, we waited.  Eventually Leila fell asleep.  The whole experience must have made her tired.

(sorry, I just realized that if you were skimming this post, it looks like Leila was in a coma or something, its NOT how it looks, she just fell asleep)

They woke her up for the x-ray.  It was so sad. They had to put her inside a "tube" looking thing with her legs dangling towards the ground and it forced her arms in the air so they could have her hold still the entire time.  Being pregnant, I had to stand far away behind a wall.  She cried.  Then it was over.

We went back into the room and waited some more.

Eventually Leila started to say "Go.  Nana's."  She wanted to leave.  We sang songs, counted things in the room, found different colors around the room....and eventually, we were told we could go.

But she's on watch for the next 24 hours for worsening symptoms or respiratory problems that come up.

Today's Post is Brought To You By The Number 3

Easter Time

Easter was a lots of fun. We did a little of everything....Easter egg hunt, coloring eggs, new Easter dresses for the girls, watched a bible clip on lds.org about the resurrection, and of course the Easter bunny came.

Tyson even got into the spirit by making these cut out sandwiches for lunch (Easter bunny and little hearts if you couldn't tell) and I cut out the flower cucumbers (with a little cutter...not by hand).

Eden and Eva (the rag muffins) at the Easter Egg hunt. We had to wake up the kids to make it in time to the Easter Egg Hunt put on by Orem High.

Here are the girls' Easter dresses. Eden also wanted her hair curly for the event. So, we put her hair in sponge curlers overnight. And that day referred to herself as "curly locks"

I love the back of Leila's hair and dress.

What's Going On...

I just thought I would write a little.

The family came to Utah for a few months for Tyson's rotations. Its nice to be close to family.

I haven't been up to see my family yet, and it makes me sad. I admit it.

I love Colorado but I miss them.

Perhaps I'll just go up there today.

We've been staying with Tyson's family. I love Tyson's family. As far as in-laws go, they are definitely top-notch in-laws. No complaints here. We are in their basement and the kids LOVE it. They think its one big party. Okay, it pretty much IS one big party.

So life is great.

Not to mention general conference. Can we say "AWESOME"?

There's nothing like general conference to really make me take a look at my life and recognize the little things (and not as little things) to improve on in my life.

I love the focus on family.

I've been making and considering several goals that I want to work on.

Inspired by missionaries.

Elder and Sister Sakamoto (my mom and dad) gave an incredible suggestion to do a "Consecrated Missionary (40 day fast" which originally was from Gene R. Cook. Basically, you start with a fast in which you decide upon a specific goal to increase your spirituality (example: wake up early each morning, don't speak sarcastically of others, etc).
Then you pray ever morning and night for help on that specific goal. After each day, write a report on how you did. Then you work on that goal for 40 days. My mom wrote in her blog (sakamotomission.blogspot.com) how she thought this would be so great for EVERYONE and not just missionaries.

I took that as a challenge.

So, I'm going to do that, although I haven't yet started. I'm currently taking goals I've written down from conference, reviewing over them as options, and then I'll fast and pray for guidance and what would be of most importance for me to work on.

I may start another blog with my goals and daily reports.

The other missionary that gave me a goal to work on is Tyson's brother, Hayden, who is on his mission in Canada.

He told everyone to make a goal to read the entire Book of Mormon within a specific set of days (whatever we choose) but to make a goal, figure out how many pages need to be read during a day and do it.

I started that goal two days ago.

I admit that I almost wish I had more pages to read every day (I read 2 1/2 pages a day) because there is something wonderful about reading a larger amount of scripture all at once. It helps me understand the scriptures better...but at the same time, sometimes its hard to fit in a large scripture reading daily.

Speaking of hard to time....my children are calling for me. Guess its time for the blogging to end.

Yet Another Reason to Love Grand Junction

We had seen on a map that Colorado National Monument was close by...

But we never ventured out to it.

Then while I was in AZ, Tyson decided (with nothing else to do while we were all gone) to go and see it.

He called to tell me, "I'm going to see the monument"

Ten minutes later he called again, "I'm at the moment...you've GOT TO COME!"

So, I came home...and we went.

Seriously...all of this was 10 minutes away??!! Practically in our backyard!!?? It was GORGEOUS!

Man, I love Grand Junction. A national monument for a backyard.

Rockin'.

Literally.

The girls probably found the dirt on the ground the most exciting part.

Although Eden did like the canyon where you yelled and 2 seconds letter it echoed back to you in perfect clarity. She also liked the rocks shaped like an "Egyptian Mummy", "Fries", and "Elephant" (only the mummy was labeled a "mummy" and she found and named the fries and elephant).

We also went on a little hike. That was probably one of Leila's favorite parts....running full speed ahead downhill ready to biff it or fall over the edge at any instant.

Overall, a very awesome day.

And on a side note...the picture below is when Tyson and I went on a "Walk From Obesity" that the staff at the hospital participated in. I got to meet all the doctors he's been telling me about over the past two months, get free t-shirts, get a little exercise, and get a free lunch from Subway at the end.

Arizona

Me and the girls went to Arizona to celebrate Grandma and Grandpa Finlinson's 60th wedding anniversary. I forgot a camera, so there are very little pictures of the event...

First off...the girls and I drove from Colorado to Utah. Tyson's sister, Kylie, had an urge to chop off all her hair. I decided that if she was gonna do it, I'd go ahead and do it. I have been a little sad about my hair since I got it cut last (not because it was bad but because I kept comparing it to my last haircut which was similar but longer and seemed a lot easier to do). So, I wanted a haircut that wouldn't remind me of my REALLY long hair from before.

It worked. I love my hair (with an occasional tear as I mourn the loss of long hair).

*p.s. Thanks to Mesa Thrift Store and gift cards to Ross and Wet Seal I was able to put together that new outfit shown above as well as a 2 other skirts, 2 other shirts, 2 other belts, and a pair of shoes with spending less than $20.

Then we headed out in a LARGE van for a LONG car trip to Arizona.

We threw these three car seats in the back, and it worked really well.

Nana was the real life saver who came up with the brilliant idea of having a new little "surprise" for the girls ever hour of the trip to keep them from getting bored. $1 store items go a LONG way during a LONG trip.

But we all had loads of fun going out to eat at the favorite spots, having parties on grandma and grandpa's behalf, and we even took a little dip in Aunt Diane's pool. Granted it was FREEZING and the ONLY person to dunk their entire body (and head) under water was Eden. All she needed some incentive. Macie offering 4 quarters was definitely incentive enough.

Overall, it was wonderful!