Poor Carter, Spring Break, rollerskating . . .

Carter
We have finally decided to have Carter scoped, the poor kid! He's had diarrhea his whole life, which we thought was due to lactose intolerance. However, we've cut all milk from his diet and the problem is as bad as ever.

On Tuesday our Pediatric Gastroenterologist will check him out, going through both ends. He can't eat or drink anything until after the procedure on Tuesday, which means I have to keep him (and myself) away from anything satisfying until after 2:30 on Tuesday. That will be a trick! We plan to have him out of the house in an area with no drinking fountains from the time he wakes up until he's been scoped. If you have any suggestions on where we should go, please let me know!

Spring Break

I've been hesitating to write about this because I still haven't decided if it was a grand adventure or camping catastrophe. I guess that's a bit of an exaggeration, but it was pretty bad. We headed to St. George on Wed, April 15, in the middle of a snow storm. The whole drive there it was windy, snowing, raining, hailing, or sleeting. We decided to stay in a hotel on Wednesday night, which was the best idea ever. However, the cheap hotels don't allow dogs so Rosie had to sleep in her kennel in the car. They wouldn't even let us park on the property because she was in our car.

Thursday rained a little and blew a lot. We enjoyed squeezing through "the crack" and then set up camp in Snow Canyon.

Friday we hiked to Lava Tubes and enjoyed playing in those, but the wind blew the whole time. When we got back to camp the tent had broken and it was full of sand. Mckay and my dad were able to rig it together with sticks and duct tape, something I should have taken a picture of. We spent the afternoon sitting in the van, avoiding the wind. However, in the evening we went to Washington and saw the Hayes and went swimming at the Rec canter, so that wasn't so bad.

Saturday was actually beautiful, so we went for an "easy" hike. The hike was through a wash, completely sandy. I forgot the baby backpacks, so we carried Sam and Carter the whole was, through the sand. I think it must have been a 20 mile hike.

I know this picture is not very attractive, but Carter fell asleep in my back and this was the best I could do carrying him. I was so happy when Mckay traded me and I only had to carry Sam.

Gabriel wanted to be carried as well, but that wasn't going to happen. Finally, I told the kids that whoever made it back to the car would get Cold Stone. Madelyn and Emily were already there, but I think this helped Gabe a bit. It helped me a ton! I don't think I want to go on another family vacation for several years, although recounting it is making me smile.

On the way home I was expressing my frustrations to Mckay and he assured me that the kids would only remember how fun it was, not that we spent all afternoon in a car, slept in a broken sandy tent, were rained on, an hiked through a bunch of sand to a mud puddle. He was right. They was to go back and do it again. Actually, the still talk about how lame the hike was, but everything else was okay.

Rollerskating

It's really hard to take pictures while rollerskating, especially because the lighting is so weird, but I liked this one of my dad and Madelyn. We had a fun evening, and Mckay had fun taking care of Sam while we skated. He hates skating, so it's nice that he keeps going with us.



My Birthday

I turned 28 on Tuesday, which feels a whole lot older than 27. Mckay got me a mixer (like Kitchen aid, only less expensive) and the kids really enjoy using that with me. I also had to take dessert to Young Women's that night so I made a Lemon Cake, one of my favorite. Mckay surprised me and brought home a Costco cake with the chocolate mousse stuff in the middle. YUM!I'll get strawberries and angel food cake at my parent's house on Sunday, so I feel sufficiently recognized.