Christmas Salt Lake Trip

In the middle of December, we scored some Lindsey Sterling tickets in Salt Lake. We gave them to Audrey as part of her Christmas. She is a huge fan! We decided to stay the weekend. We did a whole bunch of things in Salt Lake like shopping, Temple Square, and seeing Music and the Spoken Word do a taping. We had a great time! We stayed a few nights.  The kids shopped for each other. We ate yummy food. It was freezing cold. We walked a lot. We rode Trax. Some good family memories were made! 

A lot of people say we look alike. Could it be true?

Lindsey Sterling put on a fantastic concert!

Audrey was a lot more pleasant than this picture portrayed. 

Visiting the awesome buildings and learning about church history. Got to visit the Beehive House as well. All the kids behaved. (The first time we went 10 years ago, this was not the case.)

Adam got tired of walking. 

A great family picture for next year’s Christmas card. 

Inside the conference center for Mysic and theSpoken  Word. Got to hear some great singing and even enjoyed a special presentation afterward. It was awesome. Every time I go, I am so glad I went!

The Conference Center was beautiful. 

Got to eat yummy food at Chuck-A-Rama on the way back. Grant was excited they also had pizza. 

Adam ate a bunch and then enjoyed ice cream. Fun had by all. A great pre-Christmas trip!

Basketball

Got to take the kids to an SUU basketball game over our winter break. The kids didn’t really want to go but we all had a good time anyway. I think we were all excited to leave th house for a bit. It ended up being an exciting game and went into overtime, but SUU won!

Earlier in the day I found this in our photos:

He’s so funny! Definitely very expressive. ☺️

Dental work done

I am so relieved that we got Adam’s dental work done. Our appointment was at 8 but they asked if we could come in earlier. We did. We were done by 9 and home and resting. I feel bad for Adam’s mouth. It looks like it hurts. It took him a bit to come out of the sedation, but he did- and he is doing wonderful. I’m just glad to get it over. I went in to work a bit late to stay with him as long as I could. By the time I left and James came home he was talking and resting. I guess he had a bit to eat and ate too much and threw it up. Oops! He had some soup and applesauce and later a slice of bread and butter. I think he was pretty hungry. I think he is earning our trip for n February.  He deserves it! 

Adam’s new smile! 

Dental Work

A blessing happened today in that Adam had his dental appointment moved up from the 26th to tomorrow. I am relieved to get this done, and it is happening so soon that I don’t need to worry about a substitute Adam tends to grind his teeth. He has done this so much that he got rid of a filling and sealants on his teeth. He also has grown up teeth growing behind his baby teeth. So these will get pulled out. I am hoping of course that everything is ok and that all goes well tomorrow. 

He sure is a cute little guy! 

Disney World

I am going to back track a bit with this trip. Only because it was such a big deal for our family to go and it was a once in a lifetime experience where we went as a whole family I feel it needs to be documented   We had a great time. We took this trip in June of 2022. The events getting us all packed and ready to go was stressful for this mom, but it was worth it. We had so much fun. 

Happy New Year!

As part of my many resolutions for this coming year, I decided I need to do a better job at recounting our family’s adventures. I did this a bunch when my oldest 2 were little, and am grateful I did. I am missing it. So I am starting again. I hope I can make 52 entries for this year. So we will begin again. 

Christmas Time:

Christmas Eve we went down to St. George. Met the David and Beck for bowling. Kirk came with us.  Grant beat his all time personal score. He bowled 102 and his old goal was 101. We had a great time. It’s good to wear them out a little on such a big night. We got back a little later than we wanted. Grant, Audrey and I played Banagrams till like 7:30 or so. My mom also made lemon meringue pie (my absolute favorite!) we gave Kirk some gloves that he loved! 

The kids unwrapped their pajamas and then it was off to bed with them! 

Christmas morning:

 Christmas came with excited children at 6 a.m.

Grant got a new iPad, Audrey got a new craft desk, and Adam got some new trains. The family gift was a Nintendo Dwitch which everyone played Mario Kart on pretty much the whole day. I served crepes for breakfast. So far, I think Adam is the only one who really enjoys how yummy they are. This was the tradition since I was a kid. 

Got to take a nap in the afternoon and play with my kids. It was a great Christmas. 

Brain Balance for Adam

This cute little guy is 5 years old. He loves to play outside, and play cars, trucks, trains basically anything that moves. He likes to pretend that he is a dog. He loves his mom more than anything and is often her shadow. He likes to eat cheese, rice, beans, chicken basically anything we eat. He has a shy disposition and also a funny playful side once you get to know him. Funny thing about Adam our 5-year-old is that he cannot say very much. He can muster out a few words here and there. He can tell us what he wants, and will appease us with random words every now  and then, but it is not enough. He does not know enough words to carry out a conversation. He cannot tell us what he learned in school or who he played with at recess. He cannot say what he wants to do, so we have to suggest until we are exhausted. Sooooo….. What to do? 

Brain Balance for this little kiddo. About 6 years ago our Grant had the same issues on a much worse scale. Grant would wake up screaming every morning for years. He would have terrible tantrums if things weren't just right. He would throw toys across the room and break them. He was much more loud in letting us know that things were not right for him. Back then, Brain Balance seemed like a shoo in.

Adam has been different from Grant's situation since the beginning. Adam is so much more laid back then Grant ever was. Adam has been much easier to take care of in that he sort of takes things as they come, where Grant had to have things out to entertain him at all times. I remember going to the store, and buying Grant and Audrey a balloon and just begging in my brain for Grant to be happy. Adam is more happy than sad. If he doesn't want to do an activity or is just not interested, he will back away from it. Where with Grant it was way more definite that we need to intervene and do something, it hasn't been that way with Adam. The tipping point for us to decide to take the drastic step of Brain Balance happened at a Parent Teacher Conference in February, the day after President's Day. I happened to ask the question