Alianna VS MRSA

It all started last Wednesday night. I had had a nasty stomach bug earlier that week and Alianna and ArJay got it that night. Alianna also had what looked like a bug bite on her nether regions right next to her panty line. SO the next day I cleaned up after my two sickies and noticed that her " bug bite" was getting rather swollen. At first I thought it was just a bug bite that she had been scratching.

Friday morning it was looking really gnarly so I called my doctor and convinced them to let me come in and have her checked that morning.  Do you ever feel like your doctor might think you are a crazy psycho mom and freaking out about silly little things? Well, I thought I would feel really silly if this was just a bug bite, but I thought " who cares if you're silly! Better to be safe and silly!" So the Doctor comes in and looks at it and immediately says its a MRSA infection. Yes validation I'm not crazy! But oh crap what does that mean? Basically, MRSA is a really nasty staph infections that is resistant to most antibiotics.  So she gives us a prescription for this antibiotic that was pretty strong( it said on the bottle that she shouldn't be out in sunlight for too long) and says to give LOTS of warm baths to try to flush it out. And it was contagious and she shouldn't be around too many other kids.

So that was Friday November 8th. Alianna's 5th birthday was the next day, the 9th. We had an awesome birthday planned, we were taking her and some friends to the beauty school to get the "party girl package" with the nails and hair done. Then we were going to Peter Piper Pizza with her cousins. Needless to say, we had to cancel all of it.  She was incredibly gracious about it and when I told her we couldn't do it she said" Yeah, I don't to give anyone else the MRSA's. But do you think, maybe, when I get better, we could maybe do SOMETHING for my birthday?" What a doll. I don't think life gets worse when you are 5 years old then getting your birthday canceled. As ArJay said, " IF she got the flu and MRSA in the first week of being 5, what else is it going to bring?"

So my parents and brother came out Friday night to pick up Kendall and give her her presents. They took Kendall because, remember we all had been sick and home bound all week and were going to stay that way for the weekend. Kendall had not been sick at all and was going stir crazy. Plus, we didn't want him getting sick. Unfortunately, my brother and dad got the stomach bug just from coming to our house for like an hour even though none of us had had it for days. I felt like nailing our door shut "sorry, we can not allow anyone into our home, we are trying not to infect the world."

So Alianna spent most of the weekend in the bathtub. That, or she was in so much pain and straddle-shuffle-walking to the couch.  On Monday, it started draining, like a lot. We went to the doctor appointment Tuesday morning feeling optimistic. It still looked gross, but I thought so much had drained we had to be out of the woods. The doctor looked at it and touched it and said the surface infection was out but it had burrowed down in and she was sending us to the surgeon and she would have to be put to sleep and have surgery to get it out. Or they would locally numb it and dig it out at the surgeons office. I was in shock and extremely upset.

I honestly can not even describe how I felt. I wanted them to just put her to sleep because I was horrified that they would keep her awake and she would be traumatized, especially since it was such a sensitive area. But I was also so scared to have my little barely 5 year old have an invasive surgery. I jsut wanted it to be a bad dream and go away.

I reached out, on Facebook( where else) and asked for people's thought and prayers. I felt a little silly for doing it, but honestly, I needed to feel like we were doing SOMETHING to make it better and all I could do was ask my loved ones to pray with me. I can not even express the outpouring of love I felt from our friends and family. I had dinner offers, friends call, and two people offered to drop off doterra essential oils that are natural antibiotics. I took one friend up on here offer. I'll be honest, I was quite the skeptic; but again, I was willing to try anything that could help.She gave me a bunch of oils and we were to put them on her feet every 2 hours.

My dad came over after work to help ArJay give her a blessing. It was such a sweet blessing and ArJay turned to me when it was over, saw the tears streaming down my face,  and asked if I wanted one too. What a good, righteous, thoughtful man he is.  So I received a blessing of comfort and strength. It was beautiful and buoyed up my heart. But he said one thing that made me nervous. He said something about how the Lord was mindful of me and would strengthen me in the darkness and trials to come. I just thought " WAIT WHAT? What darkness?! I don't like the sound of that, is it going to get worse?"

SO ArJay had to work that night so after I put the kids to bed I prayed and cried and prayed some more. I read scriptures searching out any to do with trials and courage. I don't think I got to sleep until 1:30am and still tossed and turned all night.

My sister in law lives 5 minutes from the surgeons office, so we dropped both boys off there and ArJay and I both went to the appointment. When I came back in the car from dropping the boys, Alianna was crying. I asked her if it was hurting( that had also been a regular occurrence all weekend) She said no she was just really nervous and didn't want to go because it would hurt. My heart broke. I tried to reassure her while keeping my own emotions in check. I said even if they did something it would be a shot and she had just had her flu shot the day before so she remembered that it hurt, but only for a minute. She said that it wasn't the same because it was on her "bum". I had nothing left to say so I just held her on the drive over and said it would be ok and mommy and daddy would be there.

So we checked in and she had calmed down because they had fun new books in the lobby, the girl is my kid and loves reading. The doctor comes in and was telling Alianna how they share a birthday and I said "yeah she had to miss it since she has MRSA" She says" How do you know it's MRSA?"  " Um... because our doctor said so?" " Did she do a culture to check?" "NO...?"" Well we can't be positive it's MRSA then"
WAIT WHAT??? How was I supposed to know that, that's what the doctor said! She saw my look of fury and backtracked by saying it probably was, but you can't know for sure unless the culture is done. So she looks at it and starts squeezing. Alianna convulsed and started writhing in pain. I went to hold her and try to hold her down at the same time. WORST. MOM. MOMENT.EVER.
She says we obviously can't do anything here in the office since just that hurt her so bad( duh! it's a sensitive area and she's only 5!). Then she asks if it has been getting better. Yes it had. It had vastly improved since the night before when we started the oils( I am a true believer now!).She asked if she was acting sick or better. Again, yes she didn't act sick at all and could even walk straight now. She said she didn't believe it was burrowed down in anymore after touching it and that we could just keep doing what we were doing with the baths and antibiotics and it should finish clearing up on it's own. We were supposed to call her today if it got worse at all so she could schedule a surgery tomorrow before the weekend. Hallelujah! I seriously felt like....I don't know like I gained 10 years of my life that I had been fretting away. That's not even strong enough to convey the enormous bone-deep relief I felt.

I still haven't quite come down from the roller coaster of emotions. It might seem silly and trivial, and I know many people deal with much worse, but this was very traumatic for me. Not for Alianna or for ArJay, they were incredibly strong and, aside from her mini meltdown, didn't ever seem to waver in their faith. I feel humbled and blessed and inadequate to have them and for the amazing friends we have we were so quick to reach out to us with prayers, words of encouragement, and even with those oils (that I am convinced made a huge difference for her). But I feel most blessed for the power of prayer in my life and the knowledge of a loving Heavenly Father who listens to and answers prayers.

Casa Grande Duathlon 2013

So I ran a Dualthon this last weekend. What's a duathlon you say? It's like a Triathlon but instead of swimming, you run twice. So I ran 1.5 miles, biked 10 miles, then ran 3 miles.  They had a triathlon too, they swam 400 m then did the same 10 mile bike and 3 mile run. I am NOT a swimmer. I enjoy swimming recreationally, but I DO not swim laps. I did not want to embarrass myself and drown in the lap pool, so decided to run instead. That's how bad I am, I'd rather run twice then swim once.

The race was at 7:30 am and Casa Grande is an hour and a half from my house, so I thought we'd go get a hotel the night before. I left at almost 2 so that my kids would sleep  and I could have a nice relaxing drive. So I thought. Remember this trip:http://gamblelife.blogspot.com/2013/07/note-to-self-do-not-attempt-to-drive-to.html It was a lot like that. You'd think I'd learn. Kendall didn't sleep until the last 10 minutes and took it upon himself the rest of the time to yell and keep everyone else up and crying. Anyways, we survived! I met my sponsor for Paparazzi Accessories to trade her jewelry for my launch party the next night( yes that's right, I decided it would be a good idea to have my party the same day, back at home. Genius right?) I also met some girls from my ward who were doing the race at Olive Garden for dinner...with my 3 kids who had slept an hour total between the 3 of them. Genius plan yes?

Needless to say, it was a rough night and I was a little tired the next morning before I even started. But I was proud of myself.
Here is my Top 10 things NOT to do on your first duathon:

1 Don't forget your helmet at your father in law's car in your nervousness to go set out your bike so that he has to bring it for you minutes before your race starts.

2. Don't walk around with your number and ankle strap on as soon as you get them because you are excited.  That obviously means you aren't swimming and everyone will identify you as "just doing the duathlon" (apparently that makes me a loser)

3. Don't forget how awesomely fast you can run when it's only a mile and a half in a dirt loop ( I ran 9 minute miles which is super fast for me, don't judge)

4. Don't have such a hard time getting your feet in your bike foot pedals that you have to stop in front of the teenage boys who are standing waiting to help with bike problems. They all yelled "you got this" and whooped for joy at my accomplishment of getting my feet in after a minute of trying and laughing at myself. Those boys looked at me with pity like , "wow this is going to be rough for you if you can't even get your feet in"

5. Don't make the first time you EVER IN YOUR LIFE bike 10 miles be in the race. The course was a loop and there was a shortcut at 5 miles that could have taken me back. I was thinking "Can't I just go run now? I'd rather run these 5 miles then bike them"  Also, I know it sounds impossible, but I swear I biked into the wind both ways

6 Don't think you can just borrow your mother in law's mountain bike that is sitting in the garage. It marks you as a total amateur next to all the racing bikes and you go a lot slower than them with a lot more effort. We'll just say THAT'S the only reason I was so slow ;)

7. Don't be so busy chatting to your friend when transitioning from bike to the last run that you forget to take off your helmet until she yells at you that you might want to take it off. I told her it was precaution for when i passed out on the course I wouldn't damage my brain.

8. Don't worry that your legs feel like you're pulling them thru cement at the beginning of your run after biking. It will pass.

9. Don't forget to leave some steam so you can sprint past your kids cheering you at tee finish line and fist pump and give a little victory jump as they announce your name, you rocked!

10. Don't tell everyone that you got 2nd place in your age group, but there were only two of you.  2nd place sounds a lot better than last :)

Bonus points if you have an AMAZING support system of fellow "athletes" ( those quotations are for me, they were all real athletes and awesome)  and amazing family who come watch!

From left: My Mother in law, me ( if you can't tell with  the cherry red face), Marilee, Kris, Jeanette, and Deanna

Kris, the far right, is the one who stopped me from going running with a bike helmet on. 

Getting my 2nd place prize!

Halloween week long bonanza 2013

Halloween was like a week long this year! It started the Saturday before. WE had my nephew's baptism up in Phoenix and our ward party. ArJay still had to come back and work that night, so we decided to leave the kids home ( instead of driving 2 hours to phoenix sitting quiet for a baptism, and turning right back around to drive 2 hours back) with my parents and they took them to the party. Obviously, I wasn't there for it but it looked like they had a blast.

note the candy covered faces

We're not sure what my mom was, she just grabbed stuff out of the dress-up closet

Kendall was very meticulous about picking candy

Face of pure joy

The decorated their bags before doing the carnival

ON Monday, Alianna's gymnastics gym had a carnival. It was really cute with a bunch of games all over the gym. My dad came straight from work to watch the kids and spent the whole time with Kendall going back and forth between the bowling and the fishing hole. Poor Alianna REAALLLLYYY wanted to win the cake walk. The problem was, they did it was musical chairs and they had a bunch of older kids there. Those big kids were just to big and quick to outmaneuver her for a chair. She had a minor meltdown the first time, but handled it very well after that. And even when we left and she still hadn't won, she was an excellent sport. 

On Wednesday, our old ward ( my parents current ward since they are in our house) had a "blanket or treat" at a park. It was really cute. They had everyone bring a blanket and a bag of candy and sit around the basketball court, then the kids just walked around. The only problem was it was FREEZING. ArJay had to take Bryson to the car because he had a double ear infection.

I made the hat for her that day because people  weren't getting that she was bo peep

SOO cold, going to the car

Excited to go trick or treating

his face when someone( cough cough Grandma) gave him crackers instead of candy

We were "toy story"  

 Can you tell how excited ArJAy was to dress up? Alianna wouldn't let him out of it though. We were leaving and she was like, "Dad where's your vest? Where's your hat?" Every time he kept trying to accidentally on purpose forget parts of the costume. I was so classy with these costumes let me tell you. Alianna's I did make from scratch, but the first time I made the bodice from the pattern I adjusted from a Rapunzel pattern, it was WAYYY off. So I had to completely remake the bodice. By the time I finished that, I was wiped and everybody else's was kinda the easiest way I could think of. Her "staff" is literally just a pace of cardboard with material hot glued on it. Fancy. I made Bryson's Alien hat and then just hot glued the planet symbol on a blue sleeper. I Wonder under and hot glued my yellow felt and red yarn Jessie shirt to a white shirt I got at savers. You cant see my chaps, but they are the same material as ArJay's cow vest, I just safety pinned them to my pants. Super classy I tell you. ArJay's Woody costume is a vest I made in about 10 minutes and a yellow shirt from savers that I took a red sharpie to to draw the lines on. Is tarted with a ruler, but that was taking too long so I just eyeballed it, needless to say the lines weren't straight. I wasn't even going to attempt Kendall's Buzz Lightyear, that is completely store bought from a Goodwill.  Hard work that.

They had a costume contest and Alianna was very disappointed that we didn't win best family/group costume.Apparently we only lost by one vote. The funny story is, the kids have been themed each year.  The first year Kendall was Peter pan, Alianna was Tink and I was Wendy; last year She was Rapunzel and Kendall was Pascal. Before you go thinking I'm a crazy lady that makes my kids do this so I can make their costumes, I'm not. This has been Alianna's idea from the beginning. The first year she said she had blond hair like Tink and Kendall's was red so that's what they should be.Last year , she just loved Rapunzel and Kendall was still little enough that she just bossed him around and told him what they wanted :) So this year when I asked what they wanted to be, Kendall ( who is totally in the superhero stage) automatically claimed Buzz Light Year. Alianna was disappointed as she wanted to be Sofia the First( a princess show on Disney) but as she said " WE had to match". I told her we really didn't she could be whatever. She insisted we did, but she didn't want to be Jessie because she " wasn't Princessy and girl-ish enough". She decided that she could be Bo Peep and I could be Jessie( apparently it doesn't matter how girlish I am since I'm "just a mommy")

IT was FINALLY Halloween on Thursday. I'm not gonna lie, it was a horrid day. I'm not sure if it was because they'd been spoiled all week with parties or what, but the kids were awful. At one point, I told them we weren't going trick or treating because they hadn't earned it. I was cleaning out the van for the trip that weekend for my duathlon and Kendall pushed the garage door closer and it started to close on the trunk. Awesome.
We somehow survived without me killing all my children at my parents house for trick or treating ( we are out in a country area so we knew trick or treating wouldn't be good out there so just went to our parents) Kendall has taken on the lovely habit of spitting lately. He is smart about it, he only does it when I'm driving so I can't reach him. We have warned him lots and he keeps doing it ( this is probably not helped because Bryson thinks it's HILARIOUS and laughs his head off at it). So of course, he did it the whole drive to my parents , we warned him repeatedly that if he kept it up, he couldn't trick or treat. SO he did and we had to follow through. Alianna only went to the 5 houses around the neighborhood and then I took Kendall out to join her ( we aren't complete parent monsters), but you would have thought we cut off his limb not letting him go with her. Once I said let's go he ran out like there were zombies chasing him.
 IT was really cute when they trick or treated. Kendall would YELL' TRICK OR TREAT" especially if there were other kids at the door as well. HE was dang sure not going to get missed. Alianna was much more subdued, but they were both extremely polite and said thank you every time.

Pure Joy

The funny thing? For two kids that were soo excited about trick or treating; in the week since Halloween I think they have each only had 2 pieces of candy....

I survived my first post baby race!

The tale of the race starts the night before. The race was at 7 am (yuck!) so the kids and I spent the night at my parent's house so my mom could watch ( hopefully) sleeping kids while Dad and I raced. I slept in the spare room with Bryson. He has not slept in our room in months and apparently he is quite the night owl. He woke up 2-3 times and just sat in his bed talking and cooing and giggling to himself then went back to sleep. The first time, it freaked the crap out of me because I just woke up to these little noises. 

Needless to say, I did not sleep well and waking up at 5:45 was extremely difficult. Whose glorious idea was this again? Oh yeah, mine because it was free and would be a good race to start with post baby. At least, in my head; the reality on the morning of looked more like this: 

if that isn't the picture of alertness I don't know anything( voice dripping sarcasm)

Alianna, my early bird was, of course, up and wanted to take a picture of us and we were off. 

We're soo hot right now

Obviously, this was a Halloween race and they said come in costume so I was Aurora. We show up and there are about 25 people milling around...no costumes. There is one guy that I believe is some sort of 80s obscure character with a mustache and fro, but I'm not cool enough to even know what he's going for. Now I am getting nervous because I will stand out not only because I am slow as molasses and this is all air force people who will blow past me, but I will also be that slow as molasses girl in the weird pink sparkly skirt.  Luckily some other characters arrived just before the race so I was less nervous including Minnie Mouse, Jesus, Superman and Wonder woman (they become important later on).

The race starts and my dad says don't wait for him. I thought, "don't wait for you? I just had a baby 3 1/2 months ago, don't wait for me" But he has a bad knee from an injury years ago so I actually did pass him fairly quickly. 

The one thing I always have when running is headphones. I know that's lame and "real runners" just follow their bodies instincts, but I never claimed to be a real runner. ON long runs, I like books on tape, on short ones I pump up music in an effort to make me faster. I think all it really does is drown out the sound of my labored breathing so I don't think about how I am slowing dying : ) So of course, on my first race, I forgot my arm band and headphones. I still held my phone and about half a mile in I couldn't take it anymore and turned on my music anyways. Everyone else would just have to hear my music too. Maybe it was a good warning for them, " Oh crap, I hear music coming up behind me, it's that weird girl in the sparkly skirt. " Like my own Jaws theme...

So the run was out a mile and a half then turn around and come right back.  At the turnaround, there was a water station. I got some water and realized how good I was feeling. Maybe it was just that there were no hills( like around my neighborhood) or adrenaline from the race atmosphere, but I was rockin. So I picked back up and blew past Wonder Woman and Superman ( who was 6'4" and built like superman) Score! I don't suck too bad if I am passing half the Justice League. 

This is also when I started getting really nervous because I wasn't seeing my Dad. This was out and back and curved around the flight line so I could see everyone still coming and I didn't spot him. If you remember, he sorta stuck out: 

gotta love him

About half a mile before the end, Superman blows past me. Apparently he had been holding back, and try as I might I couldn't keep up with those ten mile legs. I almost started walking, but this was where all the superfit humans who finished long before were standing and watching us lesser beings cross the finish line and my pride wouldn't let me walk by them. To be fair to the superhumans, they were all super nice and cheering me on, which also helped.

I heard my Dad's voice yell " Pass her Maggie!" ( there was a girl just 10 feet in front of me) My first thought was " OH good you're not dead" the second was " Are you freaking kidding? I'm doing good to not walk!" Apparently, he had tweaked his bad knee like a 1/2 mile into it. Lame.

Gack! Scary but super happy!

I finished in 28:40. The only other 5k I ran was last 4th of July with ArJay and I finished in like 31 minutes, so I was just aiming for under 30 minutes. I was thrilled that I was almost 3 minutes faster. I also had negative splits ( that means each mile was faster than the one before, which is what you aim for). It was a lot of fun and you can't beat a free race. They do it every month, so I'll be back and maybe I'll beat Superman next time. Although there might be some truth to the Clark Kent thing, I Don't think I'd recognize him without his cape.....

Saturday with the Gamble's

IT is always fun filled and crazy when we do stuff with the Gamble's( ArJay's parents).

This time we started with pictures of all the grandkids.  It probably would have gone a little smoother if we started on time at 11:20, but the studio was running late and we didn't start til an hour later. Tired, hungry, bored children do not equal the best picture. Add in the fact that is was just grandkids shots with no adults to hold down the 6 under 4 year old and it was like herding cats. If only we could have velcroed them to the floor...<iframe src="https://www.facebook.com/video/embed?

Here's a short clip of the group debacle <iframe src="https://www.facebook.com/video/embed?

Hilarious. I nearly peed myself. After we got each family shots and individual shots of most of the 8 grandkids, I was ready to start drinking. And it wasn't even 2 o clock yet. :) They picked up kids meals from the food court and we were off to Buckelew farms to pick pumpkins.

We have never gone to Buckelew, always to Apple Annie's, so I didn't know what to expect. It was actually very nice. In fact I think we'll go there instead of Apple Annie's from now on. I hadn't gone before because you had to pay a $4 admission fee, but they have so much more.

ArJay and Bryson ready to go

They had a cute little craft fair. Kendall was in heaven surrounded by so much dirt and mud. For some reason the tent offended him and he tried to take the stakes out himself.

just need a little leverage

pull sooo hard

Never mind I'll just sit here

They also had a petting zoo. The animals were actually VERY well behaved and friendly. They had goats, ducks, a baby cow, rabbits and turtles.

soo exciting

petting the goat

she was very precise and careful

I think everyone's favorite was the wagon ride out to the pumpkins

Bryson was not so impressed, he fell asleep

Good thing it was a big open field because the kids scattered once we were in the field.

haha, she was a little tired

Kendall was jumping over all the ditches

Kendall was more impressed with the rock he found then the pumpkins

After this we still had to go to the store for last minute dinner stuff. I think we ate dinner at like 7:30 pm. Oh and my poor nephew Tyson got a migraine or dehydrated or something and threw up. Time with the Gamble's and cousins is never boring.

Disney on Ice

I found cheap tickets for Disney on Ice and thought it would be a fun surprise for the kids during fall break. They all ended up super sick so it was the only fun  thing we ended up doing and Alianna acted like that was all she was living for while sick with an ear infection. You would have thought she had the plague. She even prayed that she would get better " just so I can see the surprise". Luckily no one was seriously maimed by ear infections and we headed over to my parents Thursday night to pick them up and head over. Having never gone to Disney on Ice before, I was slightly nervous that we had hyped up the "fun  surprise" too much and they would be disappointed. I shouldn't have worried as Disney delivered again.

I had looked up some blogs about what to bring  and expect and was glad I did. The best suggestions I got were to have the kids dressed up with warm clothes underneath and bring our own glow stuff. Since we have enough dress up clothes to clothe a small country, I just randomly grabbed Snow White and Buzz Lightyear. The only problem was that Snow White did not make an appearance in this production and Alianna kept asking when she was coming. Note to self: next time bring a princess who actually performs.

I was also extremely grateful I hit up the dollar store for glow stuff and some cute little fake necklace and figurines. The prices there were obscene. The spinning light up thing was $25. My parents were there so of course we ended up with one souvenir, but I convinced them to go for the sno cone cups so they could have a treat a take something home. It was a real steal at $12 a pop. Yikes.

But the show itself was amazing. Alianna's face was pure joy the whole time. I think she actually squealed when Rapunzel popped out of the box.She says her favorite parts were Minnie, Ariel, Rapunzel, and Merida. SO...pretty much everything except Belle.

Kendall loved the horse in the Rapunzel scene and asked LOUDLY and repeatedly where the horse was during the beautiful couples dance skate. Apparently, he's not one for Romance. But his favorite part was the Beast. He had his glow sword and kept standing up and brandishing it while yelling " I Sword you! I sword you!"

I didn't get any shots during the actual performance because I was enjoying watching the kids so much. As soon as it was over Alianna asked " Can we come to this again tomorrow?" I'd call that a win.

Loving the glow sword

Concentrating on vanquishing evil

couldn't even look away from the ice for a picture when nothing was happening

She's holding up her little figurine, she didn't let go of it all night

I'm in denial

I was visiting my mom at my old house that they are staying in( long story) in which all my stuff is still stored in the garage even though she's living there. Confused yet?  Me too. Anyways, we were getting stuff out of said garage and Mom got down the play saucer thing. You know, the ones you sit the baby in and they twirl themselves around banging stuff so it can make obnoxious music that makes you want to blow your brains out?

She said" oh I guess you'll need that huh? " I thought " Why? Am I watching someone else's child? My baby is not nearly big enough for that yet! Plus it cant be time to hear that music again that haunts my nightmares!"  Mom saw my look of skepticism/ incredulity and ignored it. She got it down and promptly placed my dear newborn in it.

Apparently Mr too big for his britches is no longer my sweet little newborn blob but a big boy who sit himself up and likes the lights and music when he hits the keys. My life is over....

Apple Annie's

Saturday was a crazy day. My friend Marquette's baby shower was in Thatcher which is an hour and a half away. My parents and brother wanted to take the kids to the apple orchard and pumpkin patch in Willcox, which is 45 minutes away, but on the way to Thatcher. I, of course had the brilliant plan to multitask and go to the orchard in the morning, then head to Thatcher for the shower. I know my brilliant plans rarely work, but I think this one was a success....as long as you don't take into effect that the adults all looked like Zombies by the end of the day.

We went in 2 cars so the boys( ie dad, Mitch, and Kendall) could come home after the orchard because apparently they didn't want to sit around Thatcher waiting for us at the shower. Can't imagine how that wouldn't be fun for them at Kendall's nap time... Long story short, I got to drive up with just my brother adn the sleeping baby, WINNING!!

We hit teh orchard first adn Kendall immediately started collecting every stick he could find and putting them in with our apples. Or he would pick up all the rotten apples off the ground and chuck them into the bucket with the good ones and yell "SCORE!!" Apperently Kendall does not appreciate having nice non-bruised apples. I think he thought we were lame when we told him that wasn't how it worked. Alianna was a pro and got really good with the picker thing up in the trees. I think the only downside to the orchard was our time constraint. We wanted to get over to the pumpkin patch before the shower. If we had let them, I think those kiddos would have stayed for hours picking the orchard clean.

I;m pretty sure the kids favorite part of the pumpkin patch was riding in the wheelbarrows. We will probably go back during fall break with ArJay to get carving pumpkins and do the corn maze.

Here's a stick mom!

Dirt holes are way better than apple trees

So excited to pick an apple

pure amazement

Uncle Mitch helping out

Pull SOO hard

SCORE!!

She insisted on pulling the cart

Silly Grandpa decided to climb the tree

But the best apples are up here

Yeah that's not going to end badly...

Grandpa being brave enough to get within 10 feet of Kendall and his stick of doom

You can barely see is his but it is pure excitement

Alianna's turn

Total pro like she's been doing it her whole life

Kendall gave up on us when we told him to stop throwing the apples and decided to just sit in the cart and eat them instead

Should have put Bryson in the other hole but he was strapped to me in a carrier

Can they be any cuter???

"Alianna why are you closing your eyes?" "So I can be an apple"

Cheeser!

Such a ham

In the fields

Their favorite part

Yes I''ll take two thanks, do you charge by the pound?