Changes and baby

 I guess I needed  Change again.  I have wanted to dye my hair black for a long time but just didn't have the gumption to do it.  So 2 months ago I finally bought the dang dye and last Tuesday I bit he bullet and had Lance (My amazing hubby and hair dyer) do this to my hair!

 I seriously feel like I am bigger everyday but these pictures beg to differ.  This is 14 weeks along.

This is 12 ish weeks along.

April and Spring Break

This past month has been pretty eventful.  We had fun during spring break spending time with Lance.  We are trying to soak up all we can before July comes and we wont see him again until February.

 Welcome April!  The weather has been crazy nice ranging from 55-85 Degrees.

Easter

 Of course we had Easter; and you cant have Easter without an egg hunt...

 Or dying eggs

 The night before was when I went to the ER for my ovarian cyst so we didn't get their baskets made.  So.. I did my best and used what I had for their baskets. They didn't seem to care.

 I also dyed my hair brown..

Dental Visits

 Devy and Luke had dentist appointments as well.  Luke looks ecstatic...

 Devy was a great patient and didn't cry even once

Amish Country and Intercourse...

 We took a tour of an Amish farm and learned a lot.  For example: The Amish started because a group of people thought the world was too corrupt and so they decided to be opposite and not part of the "world"

Therefore they wont use electricity becuase that means their houses will be "hooked up" to city lines and therefore part of the world. But they DO use gas power. Like that iron in the pic above.  It is litearally powered by gasoline! they also have gas powered generators outside of their homes so they can have electricity in their homes. Some even use solar power.

 Part of the farm

 While on this tour, we felt VERY out of place since we were the only family of about 12 that were NOT Jewish Orthodox.  They were super nice however when Lance was standing with the kids looking at a horse and mule he heard two men talking to each other say "so does anyone know the difference between hay and grass? ANyone? Anyone?"

Lance then turned to see that they were staring at him (he had a very bushy beard and was wearing a shirt that had BYU-Idahon printed on it) and realized that they were talking to him.  So, if you know Lance at all you will think this is funny since 1st of all, he did know the answer; 2nd of all he answered their question very awkwardly.

While driving around we found a a township called Intercourse and we had to be the immature 12-year-olds we really are and send some pictures to our friends from our phones.  

It was a good time.

Washington DC

 The next day we decided to hit DC.  So we went to the temple to see the grounds (which the Temple is NOT in DC but in MARYLAND and is about an hour away from the tourist stuff) 

 We made it to Downtown DC with only about 3 hours to tour (until they closed)

Devy got to practice her mad photography skills so Lance and I could actually get a picture together.

 We went to the Native American History Museum.  This is completely covered in TINY beads inside AND out.

We then hit up the Natural History Museum.

 By the time this museum closed the kids were VERY done touring so we headed home.  When we go to the car we realized we left the front window down... We were VERY lucky/blessed nothing was taken.

Atlantic City

Saturday we went to New Jersey to the beach.  It was the warmest day of the week and we wanted to play on the beach and shop at the outlets.

 I still cant go into the ocean or rivers since my surgery scar hasn't completely closed. So, he took them into the freezing water.

 Someone had dug two holes in the sand the previous day which gave us the idea of burying our kids in the sand... Luke was not okay with it so he only let Lance bury his feet.  But Devy was a good sport.

Then it got cold and the kids just dug in the sand for a while.

All in all it was a great spring break.

ER Visits

So today we were going about our merry way of dying eggs and making paper mache easter baskets for the Easter Bunny to come and fill for us tomorrow morning.

When out of the blue I start feeling a little nauseous and some sharp pain in my upper abdomen.  So I go and get some crackers and tell Lance I am going to lay down for a little bit to see if this will going away.

30 minutes later the pain has moved to the lower right quadrant of my abdomen and I am hunched over in excruciating pain.  I cant move.  Sitting is BAD, laying down was WAY too painful, and standing? Forget it.  I finally ended on the knee chest position (or the tripod position or aka get on your knees and elbows and stick that toosh in the air).  I was starting to get extremely nauseous and could only breathe shallow breaths.

After and hour of this nonsense I called the doctor on call to see if I should wait this out or head to the dreaded ER.  Of course to my chagrine she said go to the ER just to rule out apedicitis and gall stones.

So I called my amazing friend and asked in all her seriously busy life of her husband being gone and trying to finish a lesson for church the next day with 3 small kids. ( I know right? I am such a horrible friend) But I was in a lot of pain and couldn't think straight.  I thought we would be there for 3 hours tops.

After waiting forever and ever and hearing everyone around me's personal health history.  (that violated all kinds of HIPPA laws) Plus hearing some expletives from the professionals themselves because they had difficult patients.

Anywho after: a painful IV and tons of blood taken, a pelvic exam, a painful examination of pushing on my stomach and asking "does this hurt does this hurt?", an external and internal ultrasound, and then a follow up appointment made for me in 48 hours, and 8 hours later I was told that MOST LIKELY I had an ovarian cyst burst.

Then ending with Lance saying OH YEAH all of your symptoms make complete sense now because that it was it feels like to get hit in the testicles! Great I am so glad I now know how it feels to get hit int he testicles.  Except I am still feeling the stinkin pain 9 hours later... Freaking ovaries...

So, I guess I am glad that I was able to be helped and I am REALLY glad I didn't have appendicitis and ruin our only spring break that we will ever have until Lance gets a real job and our kids are old enough to have a spring break...

All-in-All it was a successful day (except for the fact that I totally didn't get the easter baskets made...

March Memories

March was a good month.  We didn't really do anything exciting but we just had a good time living life.

 Luke and Devy practiced opening thier mouths for the upcoming dental appointments

 Luke decided that it was time to start sitting on the toilet.  He has peed once but I think it was just pure chance that happened.  Every time his diaper is off her tries to run for the toilet

 Devy Decided that she needed to show him and the camera how to properly sit on the toilet while giving my the cheese face

 WHile cuddling with Dad Luke fell asleep and looked so dang cute I had to take a picture

 This is the best I can do with telling Devy to smile... Good one Devy...

 Devy and Luke found a good way to pass the lazy Sunday... 

 We went to the park and Luke promptly ran in front of a 10 year old swinging. She tried really hard not to kick Luke by bending her knees but ended up taking him out with a knee to the face. He flew back a couple feet.  This is what happens when you fail to explain to your husband that you have to watch your 20 month old every second around swings or something like this might happen...

It is super warm here; (hence Devy's summer dress in the background) however, Luke thought he needed to wear his winter hat for the afternoon. 

New Book

So I just finished this book yesterday for a book club that I am in.  It was soo good! It is about a family in Nazi Germany.  But the way Markus Zusak writes is seriously poetic.  I LOVED this book. Check it out from the library today!

2 Boardwalks and $14.50 in Tolls

When I had my surgery on my foot my amazing Step Mom flew at for a 11 days to help out with the kids.  She was amazing! I don't think my house has ever been that clean for that long.  I kept trying to take notes. ha ha 

On another note, the last full day she was here, my Podiatrist told me that I didn't have to use my crutches anymore but that I could start walking on my heel; and then everyday afterward I should put more and more weight on the front of my foot.  

 So what do you think that I did? I went to the beach WITHOUT my crutches! I quickly learned that was a mistake when I had to take a break from walking every block! And we went to the Ocean City and Atlantic City BOARDWALKS! I don't know what I was thinking!

Anywho, we still had a ton of fun, I just ended up sitting a lot and taking a lot of pictures of the festivities! Which was also fun.

 Of course when we got there Luke ran straight for the water and Devy took her time playing and dancing.  (Man I love my kids and their different personalities!)

It was in teh low 60's at the beach until the wind started blowing and then it got a little chilly but that NEVER stopped my son from running into the ocean water over and over again!

Devy tried putting her feet in twice and decided that collecting shells was much warmer.

 Luke also loved playing with the sand and kept putting it in his mouth and then shuddering.  It was pretty hilarious.

So

 This was after Luke decided that he didn't need to hold Grammie's hand while in the water and then promptly face planted.  At that point in time he was done playing in the water.

 So we took off the wet clothes (luckily I thought ahead and brought a spare set) and then he got some cuddle time in his dry towel with Grammie.

 After we were dressed, we got in the car and drove to Atlantic City.  I mean we had already driven an hour and a half and paid 5 bucks in Tolls what was another 75 cents and 10 miles. Right? Right!

 We were hungry by the time we got there so we stopped in at Johnny Rockets and had some REALLY good burgers and milkshakes. 

 My foot was hurtin' pretty bad at this point so I made it to the boardwalk and stopped there while Melanie took BOTH kids to play in the sand.  They didn't get in the water here but they had a blast dancing to the music the casino was blasting and just running down the beach.

 This is the Atlantic City Boardwalk.  I took a picture of the Atlantic Palace and the Trump Taj hotels.

 Those white doors are where we ate

And this is the other half of the boardwalk we were on and the walkway I was standing on watching my kids have fun withe Grandma.  

All in all it was a great day and we all had a blast! Luke ended up taking TWO naps and going to bed a 6:30.  I think he had a fun!

I just wish we lived closer to the beach!