As long as its been...

I still don't have a ton to write about. We've celebrated birthdays, Easter, Mother's Day etc etc.... I really should have SOMETHING to write about?? Everything around here is pretty low key. We are constantly going, but at some times I'm not really sure what it is that we are doing! :)

My new favorite picture! I love this one. The girls were actually excited to get their pictures taken. A had fallen asleep so she wasn't all that excited for pictures :) 2 out of 3 aint bad! The pictures of the girls on my wall (can't believe I'm admitting this!!) are from winter...two years ago! sigh. At least I got new ones tho!!! I took them so I could update Claudias wall :) But anyhow my main goal, which I've been trying to accomplish for 2 1/2 weeks now is family pictures! Between Eli's mixed up work schedule, his arm, and weather, its been miss. Every time! (Eli must have bumped his elbow hard enough to cause a severe infection (cellulosis) and has been trying to heal for two weeks now.

A actually enjoying a minute to watch some Tangled :) after her bath.

Chilling with her sisters

For the first time this year we "rolled" the eggs. It was fun:)


Orphan Elle :) (jk, I got to sleep in that morning so her hair was really quite something! And wardrobe. Oh well.... She had her special day at school. Grandma Marla, Aunt Kari and Gracie, BrookLynn and Eli and I were able to go. The class had nice things to say....heard a lot of beautiful's and cute's in the class' comments :) I have no problem expanding Eli's gun collection! Lol! She just smiled. We love our Elle! She adds a lot to our family. She is smart and likes to figure out things. She really enjoys relaxing.... lol.

We had a day where we accomplished a lot in our yard. It was a great feeling! There was a ton of clean-up, and de-junk-i-fying! Thanks to Isaac for letting us use his skidsteer, it made the work done in a fraction of the time! :) Hopeful we can start making the yard look great!! Ton of work ahead but its worth it!

E and I have been trying to train for our race....count down is like less than six week! Ah!! Between weather and a bad leg, I haven't got enough running in. It will be interesting!! :)

Confirmed. We lead a crazy life.

E and I have been discussing getting a different vehicle. But keep coming to the conclusion that we really like not having a vehicle payment!! So we kept milkin the van. :) This last week I had some excitement with my van. It just wanted to stop working. I begged and pleaded, and cried and said loving words :) for it to come back to life. It was refusing profusely!! E was gone to work. I did manage to revive and milk it long enough to pick up B from activity days. Total frustration. But I have a loving father-in-law who got up extra early one morning and fixed his truck so I was set for a vehicle:) I SO appreciated it!! It made me feel pretty loved!
I was planning on a long quiet weekend at home. It was chilly and another batch of snow, made it even more inviting to stay put........ BUT anyone knows us, knows that can change in a blink of an eye! Sure enough E told me to bring the kids down to SLC for the weekend. I did say No. Promise. Actually I said no lots of times. BUT... After much persuation and begging.... Eli convinced me to fly down to Salt Lake.
I had been searching for new vans. (I know I totally just threw ya off with that comment! :) goes with the story I promise!) We needed something reliable, for when E is gone. And something that the heater worked in!! Yeah thats no fun in sub zero temperatures! I wanted to give up. Couldn't find anything. It was definately not going to happen anytime soon!! But it kept bugging me, so I would look more. Repeated this tons of times. Deep down we both wanted another surburban. But with as much traveling as we've been doing, we need something that would have better gas mileage. Sigh. So I studied and searched about the Honda Odyssey. Rave reviews, and they go and go and go! They are SO pricey. So before I packed up, I looked one more time. I found one that could possibly work!! I was stunned. I hurried and called E. Told him to call the guy and see if they still had it. (Yeah thats right....I hate makin phone calls too)
E called back and said they did.
So after a quick batch of laundry and clean up, we were off.....yet again. Flight was ok, kids were ok, so I thought we were good! When we made it to SL we went to go look at this van. I was pumped. It looked great. The place it was at Looked ..well a little dumpish? So we test drove it. First thing, a little light came on. Same one that always comes on in Claudia's van. Tire sensor. Then the gas light came on:) Ya, we couldn't go far:) Everything else was awesome! We filled the tire up and the light went off. Thats always good! So E talked to the guy, found out he is just like our friend in St G. Buys at auction and sells. He showed us reciepts for how much he got em for paid etc. Good guy, would totally send other people to him.
So..we proceeded with our weekend. Plan was come back following week and get the van.
We had a great weekend. It snowed down there while we were there. I was insta-peeved! LOL. I'm so tired of the snow!! We took the girls to Gnomeo and Juliet. It was pretty cute. Then come Sunday night the van subject came back up. E proceeded to tell me that the guy told him we could take it sooner! I was surprised. We were going to do financing with our bank at home. Tempting. Should we take it now? We were checking on our flight back to Wy and there was no way we were going to get on. Sign? E called on it first thing Mon morning. The guy totally was going to fix the tire and get it ready. Wow! K! We hurried to get going so we would make home at a good hour:) What a process. Taking the van with no financing, getting insurance on it... then we would have to drive 20 min farther north to get a tag. The sales guy even cut us a check for new tires and part of tax title etc. (good thing about utah, they include all that in loans) Then take E's car back to SL and head home!! Lets just say it was after 2pm before we left:) It was going to be a long night! Oh and to top it off....the sales guy had a partner who sold "our" van to someone else. Ya, that was crazy! The other guy was really P.O'ed I guess!
I was driving so E could get some sleep. We were almost to Evanston and that same tire light came on. I couldn't believe it! I wanted to panic, cuz the tire could very well blow out. I tried to wake E up but poor guy was out cold! I did stop and we were able to get four new tires. And it was at the tire shop that we found out that south pass was closed. We asked which way the wrestling team went the previous weekend when it was closed and off we went....again!! I couldn't believe the amout of deer we saw. It was by the masses!! It was ridiculous! I managed not to hit any! :) The roads were nasty in several places. Snow and ice packed for miles. I will ever be greatful for our snow we received here. The amount down on that end of the state was crazy. It was measured by feet not inches. It was taller than peoples fences! Along the roads it was taller than the van...you couldn't read road signs!! They were covered up. Not a good thing when you don't know where your going!! Ya, I'm fine with the amount here! Now I know how much worse it can get! We finally made it home at 2:30am.
Unfortunately, the next morning we all had dental appointments! This time we gave E a drink to kind of sedate her. It worked like a charm! She was playing in the play area after she took it. A little while after not seeing any results E asked if she was feeling tired yet. She replied, "Nope! Dad I'm feeling fine...." She fell over and was pretty much out!! She did great! B's dentist wasn't there and the other one that looked at her decided not to take the ramps off. That was pretty disheartning! her dentist said it would take two or three days to move that tooth. It looked like it has done the job, but the other dentist said wait longer. What ever!
This was pretty long, and i've probably not made much sense. I know I've forgotten lots of things I was going to say....but I think this will help me remember this little trip! LOl!

Oh the hormones.....and two for one!

*warning...this is extremely long and there is the high possibility for rambling. Read at your own risk.... Oh, and sidenote. I can't remember where the camera cable is, so there are unfortunately no pictures. Sorry.

Sunday we were relaxing and A hit E in the mouth with her bottle. Tears were shed in large amounts (didn't help that night before we traveled home in the snow and got in a little late, then early rise for church) and we surveyed the damage in E's mouth to find a fistula above her teeth on the gums. I wanted to immediately freak out. *note..last year we had her in the dentist to find out that she had several problem areas. They wanted to put her out to do the work, but it all had to be paid up front....didn't work out at the time.
It was hurting her several days before and we had scheduled appointments for next week. Obviously that wasn't going to work. So we liked the dentist in Billings, and scheduled her to go in. I was so nervous.
Quick history:
The first time she saw a dentist, she wouldn't even open her mouth. Tears, screaming and plenty of drama. I had to hold her facing me, laying her down in my lap, her head in the dentists lap. (We had the best pediatric dentist!!!)
Second time, pumped, all worked up to be brave, and raunchy assistant shoves a bite wing in her mouth not only surprising her, but gagged the crap out of her. Scared the crap out of her. Scaring for life right there!

This would be #3. Third times a charm, right? Having some dental backround, I was priming her of what they would possibly do, what they would put in her mouth etc. I think I made myself slightly sick, for the possible outcome. I could tell she was nervous, trying to put on a brave face.
Eli made the appointments Monday am. Yep, he scheduled B too. Just to get in, get her cleaning done etc at the same time. We get there and B goes in first. She is a champ. She has had a filling and cap done before. She didn't flinch and was awesome. Eli went in with her. A little bit later they took E back. I could have swore I heard her heart beating a million miles a minute. I wanted so bad to had the work done on me and take this away from her. I was even more heartbroken when the lady working on her was so scatterbrained. She was all over the place. I was so close to telling her to get all her crap together and take five to relax. D.I.S.A.P.P.O.I.N.T.E.D. Big time. I tried to smile and be brave for her. This lady didn't listen when I told her that we've had some bad experiences etc. and she would need to be gentle and explain what she's doing.
Ya, she told me that sometimes they do better without a parent in the room. SIGH heard throughout the office right there!! this close to telling her where to shove it. Of course come time for pictures she was getting ready and thinks its time to push the button when she realizes she didn't have this or that ready.
Sorry, I am really rambling here...... this part didn't go so swell. She tried taking pictures, cleaning, and getting a treatment plan ready because they would do some of the work that day.
To top it off the office part of this equation, was screwed up too. I wish I could explain this better!! (Ramie, if your reading this, I really should have told the story to you, and you would be able to put it beautifully!!!)
Eli came out of the cleaning with B and was working on some paperwork. B needed some work done too. They already had her back working on a pulpotomy with crown and making a "ramp" to fix her crooked teeth in the front. So I went back to be with her till they got Elle back in to work on her. (so they got teeth cleaned and treament plans, then let them go out into waiting area, before taking them back in to work on them. Is this making sense?!)
They were working on the ramp when I got in. I wanted to cry when I saw it. It was HUGE and gangly. I thought for sure this wasn't close to the finished product. Yea. It was. What little person needs issues like this? She's in second grade for pete's sake!!! You want to leave her tooth like this for a week? DO YOU KNOW HOW CRUEL KIDS CAN BE?!!! AHHH! I'm really loosing it here. What this "ramp" was, was build up on her top front tooth and front bottom tooth. Like big. It would correct her bite in a matter of two to three days. She would be so annoyed with the bite, that she would bite, bite, bite all the time, causing the teeth to move. Right then and there I was not going to let her go to school the rest of the week. For her sake. She got done and was tired, not liking the numbness etc. So we headed out to the front. The lady at the desk told me they had already taken E back in. Then she needed some info that Eli had. I proceeded to ask which room they had her in so I could get the info. She looked at me like I was stupid. I drew her a picture, that Eli had the info with him, and he was in one of the rooms.....get my drift lady?? So on her cute little earpeice (everyone that works there has these cute earpieces. Walky-talkies to communicate etc) She proceeds to ask
...."all assistants....which opratory is Elle in.....Silence. No response.
Again. "All assistants....which room is Elle and her dad in? Still silence.
I walk around the corner into waiting room to see my sweet #2 daughter and her daddy still waiting to go back. I was ready to leave.
E finally goes in for some major tears, drama, mourning, lamenting, shaking, crying.... They were going to pull the bad tooth. She FLIPPED when her mouth went numb. Wow. They got the tooth out in a matter of seconds. It was all over. She was crawling to get out of there as was I. She then tells on way out the door, "mom, I screamed as loud as I could." :)
oh yeah. It was that good!
Eli was in the car with B and A. B was working furociously on a bottom tooth. Like going crazy on it. I asked her what in the sam she was doing. She replied happily, "trying to pull my tooth out!.... while my mouth is numb!!!! Elle had accidently hit her tooth that morning, and made it slightly loose. Wow.
We were still trying to be patient and upbeat for them to make them comfortable and happy. I was starting to really struggle! Elle continues to freak out (she has gauze in her mouth) that theres too much blood on it and wants a new one. It dawns on me that they forgot to give her gauze and her prescription. Back in I go. B ordered some tissue so she could pull her tooth.
:) I get the stuff and make E happy.
I asked if I could assist B. She happily obligued. I yanked it out. Now, the tooth fairy has double duty tonight.
Later on we discovered that B obviously can't close her mouth all the way to chew. So another stop to get some soup and a shake. :)

Moral of the story.... there isn't one.
I was so exhausted, and I'm even more nervous for the return trip on Tuesday!!!

busy doin....nothing

Not much here, just ordinary days doing ordinary things......like
playing in the clean "sock box" at least their clean right? :)


Someone is trying to perfect the climbing thing
Now its a game....mom is watching and she even has the camera!!!

Playing with cousins......for a WHOLE day!!! They were in hogs heaven! It was great :) We even went to the "popcorn show" and watched Yogi Bear. So I had to capture this. They were singing this "Ride that Pony" game thing. It was pretty cute, and to top it off the costumes!! The pink one A is wearing and the red one little A is wearing were mine back in the day!! Crazy! I was their age!!!

The BOSS.

Trying to keep up :)

..."side to side to side....."

".....baby back to back to back......"

We've watched B cheer her little heart out at the cheer camp and her performance at the Boys Bball game the other night. Pretty cute. She could not wait!

Tired of the camera. Really. (Glad "K" wasn't!! She was smiling for me!!)

Someone was a little sad about her recent upgrade and doesn't want to leave her old carseat behind!! She loved to sleep in this thing! On our last little flight the baggage department took oh-so-loving-care of her seat! *cough* I don't know what kind of rock and hard place it was in, but it sure got a good number on it!! :)

These two. Love/hurt relationship.

A and G are too funny. She starts to get pretty flustered if her mom or dad leave her anywhere within reach of A! She looks around like someone Help!!! A loves on her with noggins, and kisses, and love "taps". :) All A wanted is someone to play with!!!

Come ON!!

.....and your going to just stand there and take pictures?!!.....

Blink rapidly. It might not hurt as bad!!!



And we've been flat out tired:)

B was asleep. And yes, E really is asleep. She can fall asleep in any crazy contortion! :)

Just an ordinary day:)

Ava

In December we decided that A has had enough ear infections. We took her in when I suspected another ear infection and sure enough both ears were infected and Dr. K confirmed she probably needed tubes. So we set up an appointment with a Dr. in St. George. He was actually the dad to her old pediatrician. So I knew he had to be good:) That Dr. said she would definately benefit with the tubes so I set up an appt to get them done. With several changes and other circumstances we weren't able to get there until this last week.

They have a retarded policy that states if its been over a month since the check up then we have to have another appt confirming she needs them. (we were a couple of days over the 30) Total waste of time! They scheduled us with a different dr. and he was confused when we came back in. He asked if we needed another opinion or what? So he looked in her ears and had his intern look. Then without saying anything to us he asks the intern what he saw. The intern replied that her ears were red. No fluid. Looked ok. I told them she just got off antibiotics so?.... he told me she was teething. Please Dr. tell me something I DON'T KNOW!!!

So needless we were pretty confused. I knew how many infections she's had her first year of life! Its this never ending cycle where she gets infections, takes antibiotics... almost recovers and we already have the next bout with them. I was so frusterated, as her mom I know she doesn't sleep, chronic infections, always pulling at them? Anyhow, long story short E and I decided to do it anyway.

Her surgery went very well and the operating Dr. told us she had fluid in one ear already. We are happy and felt good about our decision. She was back to normal that evening:) We hope that this helps her! We love this little girl!!

Christmas!

I'm looking back at the pictures I took for christmas......depressing. Very. Depressing. I took a few while the girls opened their christmas jammies on C-Eve. Then a few that morning. Thats it!! Eli had to go to work on Christmas morning, I was glad he was able to be with us that morning, but it was still pretty hard having him gone. Later that day we relaxed and ate way too much food!!
The girls slept in for awhile but I think we finally got going around 8:30:) But going back to Christmas Eve we chilled with Eli's family before the whole Mayes clan gathered and did the traditional party. We had dinner and had a small program and sang songs. It was fun, and felt the spirit. We had a video given to the women in our ward, and it was so neat. It really brought the spirit about that first night so long ago. I watched it with the girls and they really liked the pictures:)
One thing for sure?? Time to get some family traditions going.

I threw this one in just cuz:) too funny...how could I not!!??

I'm back!

Wow this is a record. I've been gone forever it feels like:) I'm wondering how to do this justice, but since my memory lasts about.......this long.........I'm toast! Oh well, there might be several parts to this. Things are the same here....school, church calling, family......repeated!
The girls during their christmas concert. They did a good job. E wouldn't smile for me, she was very focused!

Too far away to get a good pic of B :( She did smile for me however!! School concerts are aways entertaining in some way!

Before the concert:)

The 9th of December B was Baptized. I can't believe it. She is getting all grown up on me. She loves to make others happy and help in any way! She is my right hand most days:) Her baptism was great. She had lots of friends and family there to support her in her decision. Taking her pics was another thing:) I felt so bad, the day we took them it was so cold!! She was freezing. but was a very good sport about it!

This one was one of my favorites

Her and her daddy right before she was baptized:)

Quick family pic:) oh so happy bunch huh?!

Right before the baptism her cousin Gracie was blessed. It was an extra special night. E and I sang a song. Its called What Heaven See's in You. It was pretty emotional for me. Good thing E held it all together for me! The song talks about three of the white dresses girls choose to wear. The first being blessed, second baptism, and third their wedding dresses. This was really special for these to share on this night. :)

Sisters

B had a friend party this year. She's been so excited. She wanted a under the ocean theme:) The party grew pretty fast, we had 20 little girls come over. We played some minute to win it games and did cupcakes and presents. She had a great time and got a lot of really nice things.
Some of her decorations.... we surprised her and decorated the basement

Even Jack Frost decorated for her very special day! It was beautiful! I love it

We are to Thanksgiving....and its getting more pathetic. I've been so lax on taking pics! The girls were watching tv at grma Marla's on her bed. They were so cute. This is a completely normal "pose" to find Elle in. She's hilarious on the contorsions she gets in!

Boys cooking the birds!! They were yummy!

More girl time! They were playing the Wii. It was so cute and funny at the same time to watch them!!
AND...... another milestone.....our little baby turned one on November 3rd! Tear! I wanted to cry its gone by so fast! She is so funny. I don't remember B and E being so onery at this age! She gets into everything! Its one mess right to another and to another...etc! It makes me feel old just trying to keep up! She has a sweet little personality. We love her to pieces!

One of the favorite things she got.....her own Pepsi!

Not a huge fan of the fire on the cake.......or the singing! It was so funny! She kept this sad face on the whole time!
She is like E, didn't want to tear into the cake! She just licked some of the frosting off:)


She liked this little scoot and zoom.