Leadore - Gold Bug Hot Springs

Just pictures!

Ride up Scout Mountain

Well it has been a long time since we have posted. I should go back and post the pictures of Leadore just so we have them recorded. Anyway, my wife had to work this morning so I figured I would take the kids out for a ride on the four wheeler. It was a ton of fun and they did really good. Here are some pictures! We rode for 2 and a half hours. I have the best kids!

Update On Matt Man

 Mattix had a hard time with eating and breathing for quite a while, for those of you who don't know. It was so awful and scary the first year of his life! He would aspirate when he was eating so badly that he would turn blue and pass out. It freaked me out!! I am a pretty tough girl, and have had a fair share of scary experiences throughout my life. Especially with how sick he was when he was first born. We weren't sure he was going to make it through the first month of his life, so I had to be level headed and not panic or stress to much about things. Anyways, it would totally freak me out when Mattix ate! Ugh. The doctors couldn't figure it out despite the tests, blood work and swallow studies that were done.
 He has improved with eating quite a bit, but he still has some breathing issues. He also drools like a mad man. It's insane and not normal. I looked into a speech therapist to see if Matti could be helped. He got tested and didn't really qualify for speech, but the therapist saw how much he drooled and is seeing him. I'm so excited! She is so nice and helpful and Mattix likes her a lot, too. She said that she looked at his old swallow studies and there were notes about his pallet not working correctly. She recommended we see a Ear Nose and Throat specialist to see if something is structurally wrong or if his tonsils are too big and is what is causing the drooling. It is such a relief to feel like we might know what the problem is and how to help him. Before this, the specialists just said it was a mystery and we were SOL. So that's that! It's been kind of traumatizing to deal with his health problems and to not know what the heck is going on. I am a happy and hopeful mama!
 Here is an older picture of my little man. He is such a stud!

Grocery Shopping Adventures

 This little girl said a few funny things today and I want to write them down.  Mattix is sick so I needed to get some medicine from the grocery store. I usually go grocery shopping with Greg because my kids are busy and young and it's hard to shop by myself. I'm just kind of wimpy in that aspect. Greg left at 730 this morning and won't be back home until around one tomorrow morning. I usually have some interesting stories after going grocery shopping with my kids and I don't want to forget this trip! 

 While we were shopping Brynn got a little fussy. V stood up in the cart, lifted up her shirt and shouted," Mom! The baby needs milk from here! Hurry!" Of course we were in the middle of quite a few people. Most people didn't seem to notice or care, but I did get a couple disapproving looks. 

 A few minutes later someone asked me if  ALL those kids were mine. I replied "Why yes! They sure are". She said a few things under her breath before saying that I was a baby myself. V then said, "No! Mom not a baby. She is 17!"  I laughed, said they kept me on my toes, and walked away.

 By the time we were ready to check out my kids were loud and ready to be done shopping. The guy behind us in line was pretty annoyed. V sees the razors and asks, "what's that?" I told her they were razors and she asked what they did. I told her they cut hair and she said,"Oh ya! What you use to cut da hair on your ga-gina!"  I could have died. I didn't even look at the guy behind me after that. What a day.

  

 Brynn has diarrhea and while I was changing her diaper v told me there were pickles. I asked her who had pickles and she toldme brynn did in her diaper. 

 I could keep going but my kids want to go to bed. Ha! Them being tired is one positive thing that can happen when they are sick ;) 

West Fork of Mink Creek Jan 2014

Alexis and I have been wanting to get away and do some snow shoeing. I was talking to Cory about it and he told me that he had shoes that we could borrow! I was so stoked. Grandma (Cindy) watched the kids for us, what a wonderful grandma. They had a blast

We headed up the West Fork or Mink Creek and decided that it wouldn't be necessary to take snow shoes since the trail had been packed down from so much use. We hiked up 2.75 miles, ate some lunch and headed back. It was so beautiful; it is nice to have such wonderful country so close where you can make a day trip. 

Holy Shamoly!

Well, I didn't realize that I hadn't blogged since September until a few weeks ago. Whoops! Things are going well. Not a whole lot has changed since September. A new semester of school started for Greg today! Time to get back on a good schedule with the kids. It's so awesome to have Greg home during the break. He is so helpful and it is really fun to spend time with him. I'm sad he will be back in school, because it means I'll hardly see him and I'll also be back to doing the single mom thing. It is nice to be back on a good schedule with my kids, though. It helps things go a lot smoother! He is such an awesome guy. I sure am lucky! He is such a great daddy, too. It melts my heart when he plays with the kids and holds and loves them. The kids are doing well. It is so strange to think that my oldest will be 4 this year. WEIRD!!!! She is talking lots, and is a hoot! Some of the things she says really crack me up. Today at the store she shouted she she couldn't fart. Lots of older women were around me and they looked at me like I was the mother of all evil. It was funny. V is also so sweet. Yesterday while I was making dinner the kids were being quiet so I went to check on them. Mattix and Brynn were in the bathroom making a huge mess. They emptied a box of tampons, a tin of bobby pins, and a box of like 50 pantyliners. I was disappointed, but couldn't clean the mess up because I was in the middle of dinner. I moved the kids out of the bathroom, and went back to making dinner. I was bummed when I thought about the mess that was waiting for me. I was almost done with dinner and V shouts, "All cleaned up, mom!". I was like, "Say whaaaa…?". I went and checked it out and she had picked up every single thing and put it in it's place. It was so great! She helps out a lot without me asking for help. She is really sweet about it. She is sweet with her siblings, too. They don't get along sometimes, like all siblings, but she really likes to take care of them. When Brynn gets too close to the stairs she will tell me. She likes to change Brynn's diapers, and she likes to help feed M and B. She is like a little mom. It's so fun. I could go on! She is a pretty cool girl. Mattix is getting big! He is talking more too! He and V can both almost say the ABC's by themselves. He LOVES to sing. I love to listen to him. His favorite songs are the ABC's, the wheels on the bus, and twinkle twinkle little star. He knows almost every word! He also loves stickers. I made activity packs for the car that had stickers in it. Every time we got in the car he asked for it, and when we got to our designation he would end up with stickers all over his face, haha. It was hilarious. Every day he asks me for stickers, because he likes them so much. He also likes to dance! We watched this barbie ballet movie and he has some moves! I was shocked! So I started dancing with him and he is pretty good. I love that little man! Brynn's getting big. I think she will be walking soon. She starting pulling herself up to stand for a couple weeks, and when I was at Rachel's house she started cruising along furniture. She is a tiny thing! Im not even sure she weighs 18 lbs yet. Makes it kind of nice for me since she wants me to hold her all the time :) She is a feisty one! The other day she had something of Mattix's that he wanted back. He tried to take it back and she screamed and bit him. I was so surprised that I wanted to laugh! She is a little fire cracker. She sure loves her mommy, which is okay with me especially since she is my last! She always wants to be by me. She will do okay with other people as long as she can't see me. She is starting to warm up to her daddy, which is nice! I'm doing well. Just doing the mom thing, which is awesome of course! I love it. Sometimes it's hard. Some days I sleep so little or am so stressed life feels like a dream. Its definitely a unique feeling! I look forward to living by my family. Maybe with their help life will feel a little less dream like. Or maybe when my kids are older I'll be able to sleep more or not be so stressed. Who knows. We shall see!

Our chuggie cat is doing well, too. Tries to eat our new fish sometimes, but other than that she just chills and my kids love her. In fact she and v are cuddling on the couch right now. 

Flash Flood Pocatello

Some pictures we took while driving around. It was pretty wild! The one of Northern Lights and Kinghorn is right down the street from us. Our neighborhood got it pretty bad.