One morning in Arizona we went to this fun park near Sherylee's house. It was spectacular weather, and fun to be all out playing together.
Friday, April 16, 2010
Monday, April 12, 2010
Arizona trip, Part 2: A couple of pictures from the pageant
I don't have any pictures of the actual pageant. I was bith watching it and holding Preston, asleep on my lap. It was sure neat to have all these cousins together!Arizona trip, Part 1: Friday April 2 and Saturday, April 3
These pictures are from Saturday, April 3 in Mesa, Arizona. But, before I get to that, I wanted to explain the circumstances leading up to these good times. We booked flights to Mesa from Missoula, MT from Friday, April 2 returning Friday, April 9th. Missoula is 5 hours away from Magrath, but the flights were pretty cheap from there. Before our trip, Mark was acting really strange for almost a week. He was salivating like crazy, gagging, and and acting tired and listless. I took him to emergency on 2 different occasions. He was missing a plastic stopper from his feeding tube which we presume he chewed off and may have swallowed and which could have gotten stuck in his esophogas. We were also worried he might have aspirated it, but he didn't develop a cough or fever and the x-rays didn't show any lung blockages, etc. After spending the evening in emerg on Wednesday (Mar 31), we took Mark back on Thursday for a barium swallow study where they tried to see if there was something trapped in his esophagus. They didn't see anything, but amazingly after the study, he started acting normal again. We decided to go on the trip after all and take him with us, hoping that he had overcome on his own whatever was bothering him. And, as it turned out, he had!
The travel was quite long, but went as well as could be expected. Our van was super loaded down, with our family and luggage and also Karson, Sherylee's son who coming with us to see his parents (He is living in Cardston with Rob's parents, his grandparents, and doing Gr. 12). We were quite a production at the airport. We had to check 2 car seats and one big suitcase, and everyone had a roller suitcase carry-on, in addition. When you consider we had to get Mark and his wheelchair and formula and meds through security and onto the plane, you can imagine that we were quite the sight. Note to self: Next time more checked bags, less carry-on.
Mark travelled pretty well, considering. He got pretty fussy in the airport at Missoula. They had patted him down in security and right after I had to change his poopy diaper on a bathroom floor. He was kind of spooked and got pretty terrified apparently confusing the airport with the hospital. At first on the plane, he was pretty upset, and I drew up the secret weapon, Choral Hydrate (which puts him to sleep almost instantaneously), but then with his ipod and music toy in hand and him seated with his wheelchair seating system and the tray table to bang on, he settled down and did pretty well for the whole flight. When we arrived Monte and Sherylee came to pick us up at the airport with two vehicles! (All week long we borrowed their vehicles to get around--thank you!)
On Saturday morning, Monte and I went for a run. For my half marathon training program, I had to run 8 miles that day, so that's what we did. Monte is a far stronger runner than me, and even though he hadn't run 8 miles anytime recently, when we got back, I was the tired one. We then watched the morning session of conference on the computer and had lunch, courtesy of Sherylee (who incidentally fed us all week long and did an amazing job of it. She had meals planned and the groceries on hand, and made it look easy, though I'm sure it wasn't--Thank you Sherylee).
After lunch, Liz and Christian and their 6 kids and Christian's brother Garth came to Sherylee's house. Liz and Christian and family were down in Phoenix visiting Garth for the Easter weekend and we were very lucky to be able to spend the day with them. We visited out by the pool and had an Easter egg hunt for the kids. At 5, the men went to Priesthood meeting, and we met up with them at the Mesa temple pageant which started at 8:00. The pageant was amazing. There were probably 3-500 cast members, several stages, lights, music, dancing, etc. The pageant told the story of Christ's life, death and resurrection. It was extremely well-done and attended by, I'm guessing, about 10,000 people per night. It was so nice to sit out at night and not be cold, too.
I'm not as smart as this blog system. These pictures are in reverse order
The travel was quite long, but went as well as could be expected. Our van was super loaded down, with our family and luggage and also Karson, Sherylee's son who coming with us to see his parents (He is living in Cardston with Rob's parents, his grandparents, and doing Gr. 12). We were quite a production at the airport. We had to check 2 car seats and one big suitcase, and everyone had a roller suitcase carry-on, in addition. When you consider we had to get Mark and his wheelchair and formula and meds through security and onto the plane, you can imagine that we were quite the sight. Note to self: Next time more checked bags, less carry-on.
Mark travelled pretty well, considering. He got pretty fussy in the airport at Missoula. They had patted him down in security and right after I had to change his poopy diaper on a bathroom floor. He was kind of spooked and got pretty terrified apparently confusing the airport with the hospital. At first on the plane, he was pretty upset, and I drew up the secret weapon, Choral Hydrate (which puts him to sleep almost instantaneously), but then with his ipod and music toy in hand and him seated with his wheelchair seating system and the tray table to bang on, he settled down and did pretty well for the whole flight. When we arrived Monte and Sherylee came to pick us up at the airport with two vehicles! (All week long we borrowed their vehicles to get around--thank you!)
On Saturday morning, Monte and I went for a run. For my half marathon training program, I had to run 8 miles that day, so that's what we did. Monte is a far stronger runner than me, and even though he hadn't run 8 miles anytime recently, when we got back, I was the tired one. We then watched the morning session of conference on the computer and had lunch, courtesy of Sherylee (who incidentally fed us all week long and did an amazing job of it. She had meals planned and the groceries on hand, and made it look easy, though I'm sure it wasn't--Thank you Sherylee).
After lunch, Liz and Christian and their 6 kids and Christian's brother Garth came to Sherylee's house. Liz and Christian and family were down in Phoenix visiting Garth for the Easter weekend and we were very lucky to be able to spend the day with them. We visited out by the pool and had an Easter egg hunt for the kids. At 5, the men went to Priesthood meeting, and we met up with them at the Mesa temple pageant which started at 8:00. The pageant was amazing. There were probably 3-500 cast members, several stages, lights, music, dancing, etc. The pageant told the story of Christ's life, death and resurrection. It was extremely well-done and attended by, I'm guessing, about 10,000 people per night. It was so nice to sit out at night and not be cold, too.
I'm not as smart as this blog system. These pictures are in reverse order
Sunday, April 11, 2010
Blogging backlog: Austin's talent show act, Star Wars American Pie
We've just had some amazing adventures, including a trip to Arizona and me going to my Grandpa Taylor's funeral. Before I get to those things, I wanted to post Austin's talent show act which was before our trip. I thought Austin did great. He loves an audience! He is on stage with his friend Sam Jackson. They are performing Weird Al Yankovich's Star Wars American Pie which tells the story of Star Wars Episode 1. Sorry about the video quality. I missed some in the middle.
Blogging Backlog: Preston's birthday and party
On March 22nd, our baby, Preston, turned 5. For a birthday gift, we broke down and bought him a Nintendo DS, hoping that having this portable game system might make it easier for him to agree to accompany Becky for grocery shopping in Lethbridge and to visiting teaching visits, etc. So far, on that count it works like a charm. I just hope we can keep its use under control. I'm not the master of setting limits.
Preston also had a birthday party, the Saturday after his birthday. He had 5 friends over. It was probably the best birthday party I've evern hosted and I give credit for that to Alyssa and Austin who both helped with various segments of the party. Austin kept the kids busy for about half an hour playing trampoline games.
Blogging Backlog: Austin's Final Kub Kar Rally
For the Kub Kar Rally this year, Rob helped Austin build a sports car. Rob wanted to do a bobsled car, but alas the actual Cub prevailed. Austin's car was pretty fast this year. He won 3 of his 4 races, losing only to the kids who was the ultimate winner, but by some fluke, he didn't end up in the final four. Still it felt good to have a fast car and a pretty styling one too. Good work, Austin.
Saturday, April 10, 2010
Blog backlog: Alyssa's music festival
A few weeks ago, Alyssa's Gr. 7 band performed at the music festival in Cardston. A couple of weeks later they performed at the school concert, and then the week before spring break, they performed the same pieces at the Lethbridge music festival. They gradually improved in their playing, and when they performed in Lethbridge, they earned a "superior" grade and a right to participate in the province-wide music festival in Red Deer in May.
Alyssa also played the piano at the Cardston music festival. Her first piece was a Fantasia by Teleman. It had some very quiet parts, in contrast to some louder parts. When she went to play, the piano, a Yamaha had a very firm touch and her soft notes didn't play quite like she wanted. She still did really well, but came in 2nd. She was especially nervous because that was her stronger piece, but she practiced really hard all evening and the next morning, and nailed her second piece, The Wild Horseman by Schumann, getting 1st place. Alyssa accomplished all of this while she was fairly sick with a cold.
I did make videos of the band performance, but haven't been able to get them to download.
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