Fall Break- Tuesday

Tuesday morning was a early morning for me. I HATE early mornings. I hate early mornings even more when I hear mom and Lexi fighting over hair. OH geesh.. that is the dumbest thing to fight over AND I have fought over the same thing with my mom for YEARS. So I roll out of bed, SAVE THE DAY!! And fix the cheerleaders hair. Lexi has a big game to  cheer for and her friend needed her hair done too. YAY for nana ( that's me) for saving the day.

I went back to sleep... dang teenagers.

For our activity this day we had gotten in touch with the Museum of the San Rafael and my friend Tiffany who works there. We had set up a blind tour for Tyler. Which mean we could go in and get IN the exhibits and hold the bones of dinosaurs. It was defenitely a first for them and for us. No one lets us get any where near the exhibits. But it was so so so much fun .

We took Kayden and Koy with us. Grayson had fallen asleep so Grandpa was waiting at home for him to get up. Be had a blast.

Later that night we went to our very first  football game. It was the "big game" for the junior high and lexis last football cheer leading. We were so glad we got to see it. My boys were freezing and done by the time the game ended so we left a bit early. But we were super proud of Lexi. 

Fall Break- Monday

Monday the kids had to go back to school. We were so sad. But we knew we wanted to play a bit. So we had one activity planned a day for while we were there. We got up and Grayson wasn't feeling so well. And he spent his morning throwing up. I was so frustrated. He has not been doing awesome the last little bit and his energy once we got to Utah really dropped. ( After we got home, the hematologist was a bit worried and he said that it was because of the elevation. So it wasn't a surprise)

We got him feeling better and we went to the park, where we happened to run into the Fire Marshall for the town. So he took us over to the fire house. Where Grayson was in fire man heaven. He was so excited. I was just hoping no one else would puke!!

I knew the fireman that belonged in the coat above and he was the smallest one of the group, so I put it on my kiddo. He was so in love. He loved it. 

We were sitting on the inside of the blue fire truck and we were trying to honk the horn. The fire marshall said you have to pull hard, so I pulled hard..... and broke the fire truck. It was awesome. I think I was Grayson hero that day. 

After we saw the fire trucks it was almost time for the kids to come home. So we went to grandpa's and hung out till the boys got there to play. My kids chased the naughty cat named Beckham, They loved it. 

Day 2: Sunday

Sunday morning brought on bouts of laughter and loving on Nicky's dog, Oreo. The kids ( Kayden, Koy and Lexi) were with their mom until later, and Nicky was still there to play with us. We took full advantage and after conference session we went to the local park at my moms.

My parents live in Small Town USA. I grew up there. My mom grew up there. Her dad Grew up there ( kinda) and it is LITTLE!! The local park, however, is KILLER. Nicky and my mom and I went down after the boys left on the side by four wheeler. The boys loved it.

At the park we played with Nicky's dog and had him chase the ball and since he can't drop it, Grayson and Tyler would run circles around him trying to get it out of his mouth. We were all laughing so hard.

During the second set of Conference, the boys played outside, non stop. Grayson also realized that my moms neighbor has a cat that is really fluffy. He also likes to be petted. But doesn't like to come with called. We also thought that there was a possessed cat. Turns out that Cat was Grandpa's and he loves Grayson.

Later that night, my dad went to pick up the kids and my sister left. My kiddo's took off outside to play with the cats. I went out to check on them and do my homework and they were missing. I got in my dad four wheeler and went looking. Sure enough, the boys were lost. They were right in the middle of a HUGE field full of piles of dirt. They were almost to the river. Luckily they were stuck.  They were crying and screaming to help! I saved the day by climbing over the piles and saving my kiddos.

The boys said they were looking for the cats and then they couldn't find the right place that was our house. In other words, a blind kid and a 3 year old can't find their grandparents house, that they don't visit very often. Thank goodness the town is little. And thank goodness they didn't get to the river.

The rest of the night was spent with Kayden and Koy and especially Lexi. I love them so so much!

Tyler says the cutest stuff

This whole speech thing is AWESOME. I can't even begin to tell you how much easier this whole parenting a preschooler is when you have yourself some speech. Seriously, if I would have know I would have made him talk a heck of a lot sooner.

There are things that never get old. I don't think hearing him say momm-e gets old or I love you dad-e. But lately he has been saying and doing the funniest things. Here are a few for your laughing pleasure.

(Please use the potty before. We are NOT responsible for incontinence.)

At Thanksgiving he was telling my Aunt Linda about the pizza story. He gets this pucker on his face and lowers his voice and says " Once upon a time....." Then laughs at himself when everyone else starts laughing.

( the pictures is of him playing at the mall yesterday! he is so stinking cute!~)

He points to his Aunt Nicky and says " Nicky poo poo" Repeats until we can get him to do something else. Like tell us a story.

"Wexi to play baketball" is a big one. He says it like 900 times a day. When I say we have to ask her mom he hands me the phone and says Tammy. I didn't even know he knew her name.

He asks "What da kids doing?" and means he is looking for Kayden and Koy

When Kayden and Koy were over they wanted to get in my big jet tub. Well we knew the boys had gotten water every where. Tyler came down and he was covered from the top of his head to about half way down his back. He looked at me and said " What happened Tywer?" Then laughed.

He totally gets Christmas this year. He keeps asking to go buy a "Christmas wish box for dad-e"

He came trotting down the stairs and said " Tywer hungry." When asked what he wants he does his little Think thing. Responds " Hot dogs" I tell him we dont' have any hot dogs. He said " Go to the tore to get a hot dog." He said the same thing about going to the tore in grandpa's truck to get some toaster struddles too. He really thinks if we don't have it we can buy it.

And my personal favorite. If he isn't asking for Lexi to come play he is asking to go to the store and "get a bwter or sister to play." It is really cute and heartbreaking at the same time. I sure wish there was a store like that!

Happy Birthday Alexis

Today is Lexi's "Special" birthday. She is NEVER going to be a one digit again. She is the cutest and sweetest thing. In the last 5 years we have seen her grow up so much. She LOVES Tyler. She takes care of him. She is so sweet. She helps him all the time and Tyler LOVES Lexi.

Happy birthday Lexi! Thanks for being such a sweet girl! And thank you for loving Tyler

Ever had something....

Ever had something you really wanted to get off your chest but realize that you just can't seem to write it down. Even if it is YOUR own blog and no one else HAS to read it. Or that you might be judged harshly from something you say... Yeah... that would be my head right now!

I literally have SIX blogs I have started that I just can't bear to finish. I want to express so many things and feel that I need to write but haven't had a chance to really express them correctly or in a way that might not come off as negative, angry, upset or hateful.

So I am sticking to a few safe posts.... With lots of pictures. Cause I like those.

This past week has not been the best of weeks. It has been better in regards to my mental health and the Lupron and my endometriosis but I kinda sorta got sick with a cold. Dallas also got it and Mr. T didn't. I am almost certain that the little Toot that was sitting next to Mr. T on the bus sent it home with T.

Monday's therapy left me impressed with Tyler and sad that we are looking at a few months of NO therapy. Not sure what to do with out having SOMETHING. So I am on the look out for something. If not a lot of swimming is gonna be in our near future.

This week went by fairly quick though and we were back to early wake ups from Mr. T and school and all the fun stuff. Because I was sick my poor house keeping skills really suffered. And I don't get enough sleep.

Dallas has the crud and we are heading him into the docs tomorrow!

The week came and it went. Saturday we were having a Aunties lunch with my moms sisters in Provo so me and Nicky and my mom head of there. My dad and Dallas get to hold down the fort. Lexi, Koy and Kayden and Tyler are here playing.

Ty had a blast with his cousins.So that is what we are writing about. And posting photos about...

So here you go!! The kids playing...

And then after we went to Cabella's, feed the fish, walked through the free aquarium and then sent everyone home... HOORAY for quiet.

The day was good. The day was long. Tyler was EXHAUSTED. He has so much fun with the kids. I half wish we would have "Started" a little earlier in our endeavor to produce more spawn so he would have more friends. But I guess that is what it is.

Stay tuned for some fun and exciting honest, blunt and raw feelings.

Christmas with Tyler

After 4 Christmas mornings with Tyler you would THINK I would realize that he just doesn't care once he opens that ONE gift he really really likes. For him it seems any book or movie will about do him in leaving the rest of the gifts for Dad and I to open for him.

We decided that like last year, we would buy one big gift and then little gifts. BUT the big gift, which I think should take a lot of thought into getting the "right one", couldn't be so obvious that he doesn't play or open the other stuff. ( like last years ball pit he wouldn't get out of) We decided not to put together his big gift till after he opened the rest.

Overall, he was OK with opening presents but he was even better once a book and a movie was opened. The big gift didn't phase him until it was put together.

Here are the pictures of Christmas:

Our Christmas tree pre Santa.. I didn't really get one POST Santa..

Christmas Eve Dallas was putting Tyler to bed and they were talking about Santa and if Ty had been good. When he woke us up and we took him downstairs and we waited to see if Santa had come he saw the presents and said " Oh cool."

The stocking was to pretty to fill so we put his big stocking toy IN the tree. We were pointing it out to him. It was pretty funny to see him see something new in the tree that he didn't put in the tree.

Ty really likes the super sleuths and Tiger goes right along with his big present. He loved the tiger and we had a hard time getting him back to opening presents.

A microphone so he can sing with Annie. He loved this thing in the store to. He will go get it any time Annie sings.

Ty got a cute little trampoline that has a handle so he can jump. He loves it. His face is priceless. Of course we had this in the box so that we would sort of get his attention. He has contently played with his new movies, books and jumper for hours and hours of fun.

Christmas Day we also got to have Max and Morgan and Kayden, Koy and Lexi here for a little party for Max. They brought their parents to! So we had a house full with Grandma and Grandpa Labrum. I don't think grandma and Grandpa could have been happier to have everyone together again. I thought Grandpa was gonna BURST!

That afternoon we went to Grandma and Grandpa Browns. Ty was/is sick. He has a nasty cold and cried all night Christmas eve so he was pretty done pretty fast. But we had a great time with his cousins there. He is a pretty spoiled kiddo!

This Christmas season I was especially humbled by Dallas and love him so much. He has worked very hard for us this year and we are so thankful for him and for all of the things that we have. I am also thankful for my Savior and to remember the reason for the season!

With Grandpa passing very close to Christmas and most of us being together, I can't help but remember how incredible the power of family can be. That no matter how many gifts are under the tree that we should remember Christ and our family should be the first things on our mind.

Merry Christmas!

I guess it is my turn

Our Thanksgiving was so much fun. Mostly the Friday after but Thanksgiving was really yummy.

We had dinner at Dallas parents house this year. It was the first year back and it was nice to spend it with Family. I worked until 2 so Dallas and Tyler went without me. Dinner was held up an hour for me to get there but it worked out great and Tyler did awesome. Dinner was yummy and I even rocked the yams/sweet potatoes with a made up recipe that pretty much every at least tried.

Friday was the best! I worked at 4:45 am and I swear on my life I HATE Black Friday. What makes me the most sad is that women are nasty nasty when it comes to "saving money." ANYWAY. I went home, got Dallas and Tyler going for the day and I napped for 2 hours. It was great! Got a turkey started and vacuumed the house. Ty was having ALLLLLLLLLL his cousins over. Not just the Gales but the LABRUMS!

We got family pictures ( ok just the kids) and I fell madly in love with the Labrums. I haven't seen them in almost 4 years. Morgan was 2. Max was 0. I have only "met" Max ONCE. They live far far away and it makes me sad. But I got to take their pictures.

We ate dinner at my house and then went swimming with all the grand kids. Morgan has her own fan club named Tyler and I think she secretly liked it. Max was just cute. And Tammy's kids ( especially Lexi) are so sweet with Tyler. Morgan kept saying " I LOVE this" when we would all laugh. I think she mostly liked that you could trash Nana's house and she never yelled :)

I am really thankful for my family. We had a really great time. I am thankful that I have become friends with my sister in law! She would laugh and no one would EVER guess we would be friends but she rocks. And she makes cute kids. I can't WAIT for them to move back .

( one you haven't seen... I know I know HURRY) They should be done by the end of the weekend.. maybe ;)

Vacation continues

Ok so here is more of our Vacation!!

Tuesday we slept in.. well I did at least. We headed down the strip and had a great time. We walked into several casino's. We saw the botanical gardens and the gorgeous glass ceiling. It was gorgeous. We continued down toward the Venetian so that we could attend our show. We planned one eating there and heading to watch our show.

It was a longer walk than we had thought and we looked in the Venetian for a restaurant that we wanted to eat at and decided on a restaurant by Wolfgang Puck or a Italian place. Well the Italian place won and we sat down. The menu had 3 kinds of food on it and we opted for pizza but when we found out it was covered in goat cheese we decided that fancy Italian ( overpriced) goat cheese filled pizza was not our thing we told them we changed our mind and left.

We went and got our tickets to the show and asked the girl behind the counter for a "normal" place to eat. She directed us to the Grand Lux which was owned by the cheesecake factory. We had steak and shrimp scampi. It was pretty good.



So the show..... it was AMAZING! Dallas got us tickets for our anniversary. They were wonderful seats. We were fifth from the front. We were so close that at some point in the show we could feel the fire. It was AMAZING...



So what was the show...





It was so great. We were awe struck the whole time. They did a great job, costumes were great, acting was wonderful. Theatre was just awesome! It was a great anniversary present.

We took a cab back because the walking gave D blisters. I felt horrible. I bought new shoes because of work and he had crappy shoes. So I could walk forever. But a cab ride was nice. The cabbie didn't speak English and played on his cell phone the WHOLE time we were riding.

Anyway back at the hotel Dallas and I tried our hand in some slots and blackjack. Dallas is really pretty good at it and I was able to see him in action. He had a pretty good streak there as well! I got a pretty crusty look from the pit boss and the dealer for taking the picture. I think they thought I was cheating.. I wasn't. I would have though.. just for D!

I went around looking at the sights and taking some pictures. Then headed back to the room to read and sleep. I had gotten sick with a cold. I enjoyed the time alone and quiet. And later got to snuggle with Dallas.


Wednesday we got up and went to the pool. Dallas got up before I did because he couldn't sleep. I stayed in bed cause sleeping is NEVER a problem for me. At the pool I was able to "work on my tan" which is just a fancy way of saying I got the snot burned out of my back and shoulders which I have been paying for dearly. Dallas also got burned. But tonight mine is feeling much better!! Hopefully his will soon.

The funniest thing happened at the pool! While we were there I had to go potty. ( yep my kindergarten bladder kicked in again) and I ran to the restroom. While there I stepped out and there was this BOY in the bathroom blowing his nose. The boy was probably 19. He looked totally horrified as three ladies walked out on him. When I left the bathroom the whole area around the restroom was laughing.. It was great.

After the pool we decided to spend a relaxing afternoon doing NOTHING. That's right NOTHING. We layed around talking and laughing and doing just what a vaction was meant to do. We did order a movie and got some snacks and sodas and hung out the rest of the afternoon. We went to the grand buffet and had some great prime rib and then back to bed. It ROCKED.

Thursday we got all ready and flew back to our precious little baby. It was so good to see him. He is such a cutie. That night Nicky and Lexi came out to visit Tyler. It was cute to see Lexi play with Tyler. He loved chasing her and giving her kisses and loves. She brought a camera to take a whole bunch of pictures home with her and I hope they turned out ok!

Friday was family picture day at wheeler farm. I will have to post some photos of him and the animals later but here are a few of my favorite shots throughout the day. ( Yes crys.. I am still sending them I can't figure out how to get the WHOLE file to you!)








Friday night was dinner at Braza. It is mine and Dallas' favorite restaurant in SLC. It is great. It is a Brazilian steak house. It was totally worht the overfull feeling you have when you leave.

Saturday morning was Noah's birthday party. It was such a joy to meet this little boy. He is so sweet. He smiles ALL the time. I can't help but love Crystal even more as she has struggled through the first year of special needs. It is a different world and was sad she had to come but was glad to have her with me! It was a bitter sweet moment as we thanked our Heavenly Father for Noah today and blessed him and also blessed the family who lost a little one so we could have that sweet little boy! Thanks for sharing it with us and having it early!!

Then onto the airport where I HATE some of the airlines. Not seeing that we have a million things in our hands but to add more! All in all the trip was great. We missed seeing Gma and Gpa labrum. They had other commitments and didn't come up. But it was good to see Nicky and Lexi.

It was freezing cold in Utah and we flew in leaving 60 degree weather to land in Sunny Arizona at 99 degrees. It was amazing. We were so glad to be home.

Now back to the real world!!