Sea World

We had a fantastic opportunity to go to Sea World on Saturday, thanks to our wonderful family. Now we get to go all year long whenever we want to! The weather was perfect and we had a great time together. It's times like these that help build memories and make us closer as a family. You know, I complain a lot about the year round sun, but there's a lot to be said for living in Southern California. Since November we have been to the San Diego Zoo, Disneyland and now Sea World. And Justin was able to go to Legoland last month on a field trip for school. Let's not forget about the Wild Animal Park and Knott's Berry Farm that are at our finger tips as well. Then there's the small fact (said sarcastically) of having 4 temples all within an hour to an hour and a half's drive from us. Yes, we are blessed to live here and enjoy the things it has to offer. I will remember that the next hot, sunny winter day when I'm wishing for cooler weather. :-)

HAPPY EASTER

What a wonderful Easter we had! After getting up at a much too early 6:45 (kids were warned not to wake us until 7:00, but Avery can't tell time yet, so really not too bad) and got decent enough to make our way downstairs to see what the Easter Bunny had left the kids. They love it because on this day and Christmas morning we allow them to eat candy either for breakfast or before. This morning they opted for sausage after having a bit of candy first. The Easter Bunny was very generous with them and they were very happy with what they were given.

We headed off to church at 8:10 and made the kids wait to do the Easter egg hunt in the backyard until we got home from church. Hence the nice attire searching for eggs. This year the Easter Bunny hid 80 eggs. 80! They had a great time trying to find them all.

Shortly after we were done with that our fabulous friends, the Bayless' and the Benedict's joined us and we had a yummy barbecue.

How many people does it take to barbecue hamburgers and hot dogs? Looks like quite a bit! :-)

The kids had such a great time together! It was a very warm...uh, I guess more like hot, day and the egg hunt was quit a job. Yep, our kids got to do another egg hunt. Too fun! We really did have a wonderful time. Thank you Bayless' and Benedict's for coming (if you're reading this).

Coloring Eggs

Devin's feeling good and we took advantage of it by coloring Easter eggs. The kids just love this tradition. It's a smelly one, but a great time. :-)

Devin's first year of helping out and he loved it!

Calling all diaper rash remedies

Sickness strikes again in our house. Devin came down with the stomach flu Friday morning. He's been running a temperature of around 103 and is not a happy camper. Hasn't this little guy been through enough? He had only been home from the hospital 1 week when this came on. Poor baby. And I'll just throw in that Tuesday I took him for his follow-up visit to the doctor and brought Avery to sneak her in for an asthma exam. He's a great doctor and checked her lungs and prescribed an inhaler for her without an official visit. Then only 6 short hours later (after the doctor's office was closed, of course) she was crying about her ears. Off to the urgent care Kirk went (the good daddy that he is) and she had double ear infections. Now she's got the fever off and on with Devin. What's up?! Anyway, I'm writing this in hopes that all you experienced parents will tell me what has worked best on diaper rashes. Devin's tummy has definitely made a mess of his poor blistered bottom and he's in a lot of pain. They are about to bleed. It's really awful! Avery had some bad diaper rashes, but this one takes the cake for sure. Like feeling horrible isn't enough? No fair for a toddler his age.

Congratulations Justin!

This morning I got to go and watch Justin receive an award for being a "Spectacular Scholar" at school. It was fun to watch as his name was read out and he had to walk up. He doesn't necessarily love to be in front a big crowd, but he smiled and did a great job. He works very hard and in return is a fantastic student. We are very proud of him!

Justin with his teacher, Ms. Salcido

Justin is in the middle with his fellow second graders that got awards.

Devin's home from the hospital!

Most of you know that Devin was in the hospital from last Saturday until today with pneumonia and RSV with double ear infections. But I wanted to clear a couple things up. Rumors ran wild around our ward that he was life flighted out and in critical condition on Saturday. Here is the real story in short. After having a fever for a couple of days with a slight cough he ended up with a 104 fever on Saturday after Tylenol. I took him to the ER in Murrieta to be checked out. I had good luck. I got him there at 12:30 and was seen by 1:00. It was determined that he had the above infections and needed to be transferred to another hospital with a pediatric respiratory ward. It took until 12:45am Sunday to get the transfer started (gee, fun!). We took an ambulance to the new hospital, but it was only for transportation purposes. He had a rough week, poor baby. They couldn't find any veins and ultimately he was poked 18 times. I just about lost it by then having to witness that. We're happy he's home in the comfort of his own bed and family.

Is this a pathetic picture or what?

This is the crib that he really liked. He liked having the bars up. I think it made him feel safe that as long as those were up no one could hurt him.

Kicking back and resting.

We are so grateful to those that called to check in on him and offer help. Thank you, thank you, thank you! We feel so loved!