Saturday, June 25, 2011

San Diego

SAN DIEGO VACATION JUNE 2011

The beginning of June we went to San Diego for 5 days. Reyn had his 17 day break so the first few days we hiked Havasupai, then went to San Diego. It was so nice to be there to relax and enjoy our time as a family. We didn't get to play in the ocean and we actually didn't go to the beach much at all. We arrived Monday mid afternoon and it was sunny and beautiful. The rest of the week was overcast, June gloom. We were just grateful for the weather, it wasn't 110 like it was here at home. So even though we didn't get in the water or become beach bums we still really really enjoyed our time there. :)











We went to the Mormon battalion museum in Old Town. Royce working the water.


My first hat ever. I really like it. :) I also like this picture of Royce and I.

Attempting a family photo ha. We just had my phone and just us to get the picture.










Birch aquarium. Kind of a funny story about this. Reyn parents mentioned coming here with us. So we all loaded up in our truck and we headed out to Birch Aquarium. When we pulled up Reyn's dad said "OK we'll let you out here" Reyn said "OK we'll get out and you will go park the truck?" And Doug said "oh we didn't tell you, your mom and I aren't going in, we are dropping you guys off and taking your truck to go shopping." Reyn and I were like "WHAT?!" It was their idea to have us come to the aquarium and they just dump us off. haha. So we went inside and they left, they told us we could call as soon as we were done and they'd be 15 mins away to come get us. Well we walked through the whole thing. There were a ton of kids there, must have been a field trip or something. So Royce wanted to be held the whole time and wasn't being much fun for us. Royce whined most of the time we were there. I think there was just too many kids there and they were extremely loud and EVERYWHERE. So Royce was clinging to Reyn for dear life.




I took a few pictures of the different fish and sea creatures in their aquariums. I liked this aquarium because of all the bright colorful fish. It is amazing all the different shapes, colors and sizes of fish that exist.






NEMO!


Some sea horses.




All Royce wanted to see was some sharks. There were signs for a shark exhibit and when we walked around to it, there wasn't anything there. Reyn went to ask and they didn't want to give him a straight answer. He said "where is the shark exhibit" and the lady said "oh there were some sharks in the aquariums". he said "well there are signs for an actual shark exhibit" and she said "oh that is closed til next month." So Royce was sad, we were disappointed. There was a little hands on area in the back, where you can hold the sea creatures or touch them. Royce didn't want anything to do with that. He was still crying and mad that we didn't see any sharks. Poor kid. Oh well now we can say we've been to Birch aquarium and we will probably never go back again.




Royce waiting for grandma and papa to come back and get us. Which ended up being a lot longer than 15 minutes haha. Oh well the weather was beautiful and we did have a good time seeing all the different kind of sea creatures. Makes me more afraid of the ocean haha. I was just happy to get to spend time with Reyn and have the 3 of us hanging out as a family.



Royce running down the pier. He is growing up so fast! We are grateful for Reyn's parents for letting us come stay with them for the 5 days. We really enjoyed the vacation. It is always so good to spend time together as a family. With Reyn in school we don't see much of each other. So any time together is precious time.


































Friday, June 3, 2011

HAVASUPAI

Ok these pictures are way out of order. And this post is all over the place. I remembered I had some different pictures to add. so these 3 pictures are an after thought to my original post. Bare with me haha.


this picture was the hike down. I love how everyone is leaning on the rocks and resting.



Sarah, Me and Andrea.






reyn and the dog Rabes that followed us down. haha.






So the plan was that Reyn was going to hike Havasupai with his buddies from his class and 2 of them had their wives going too. I was going to stay in Lakeside with my parents. I didn't do anything to prepare for Havasupai so I was just going to have Reyn go. My dad and Donny were going to also go with Reyn. Well my dad ended up getting shingles and didn't know if he could go. And the Thursday before they were planning on going Donny wrecked his dirt bike. And tore up his knee pretty good. So he was out. Friday afternoon I decided that I wanted to go down with Reyn. So we went out and bought me a pack and got me all packed up to go to Havasupai. Saturday morning we drove to Lakeside, went to a graduation party for some friends had dinner with the family. Then Sunday went to church and finished packing up. *Now this was my first really big trip away from Royce and I wasn't so sure about it. It made me feel so sad to leave him. It was hard for me to get into my head that he will be ok! So Sunday we got back from church and ate lunch/dinner. Reyn and I packed up the truck said "goodbye" to Royce and drove to Flagstaff. Got some food there it was about 6:30 ish when we got to Flag. Then we drove to the Hilltop. We weren't 100% sure we were going the right way. We remembered driving on a dirt road to get to the Hilltop. And there wasn't a dirt road it was all paved, so we just continued driving along the paved road and eventually we saw a lot of cars. And there it was the Hilltop! It was about 10:30p.m. So we curled up in the front seats of the truck and tried to sleep. It was FREEZING! Poor Reyn couldn't get comfortable. Well I didn't get very comfortable either. We didn't get much sleep at all, maybe 3 hours. Our friends arrived at around 5 a.m. and we finished packing up. By 6 we were hiking down. This is when it hit me, "what the heck was I thinking!"







These pictures are backwards. I accidentally posted the last of the trip first.





Oh and my camera fell in the sand before we got down to the camp ground and it quit working. Andrea had her nice fancy camera but a full SD card so she wasn't sure she'd be able to take pictures. I had an SD card and a broken camera so we put the card in her camera. And she got some amazing pictures! It all worked out. My camera is now at Best Buy they are going to see if they can fix it.


Anyway so a few of these pictures are from my camera. Most of them are from Andrea's though.



Reyn and I on our way out. Andrea stopped to take a picture of us. And that was the last we saw of our big group. They hauled booty out of there. Reyn and I were slow and steady. But if I went any faster I don't think I would have come out alive haha.














Here is the mule with my pack. There is no way I would have been able to hike out my pack. Thank goodness for these horses and mules to pack them out for us :)




This pretty little red bird landed in the branch and I am glad Andrea was kind enough to take a picture of it for me :)







Reyn's cousin Jared and I following the trail to find beaver falls. Which we never made it down to. We stopped off at a different water fall area. Apparently we were only 3/4 mile from Beaver falls. so pretty Reyn and I at Mooney falls. it has changed a lot since the last time we were done here.


Climbing down Reyn and I with Havasu falls in the back ground









the cute little LDS church down in the village.


Looking down over Havasu falls

The new fall that was created in place of Navajo Falls. I still miss Navajo falls it was by far my favorite! But when it flooded a few years ago it was wiped out. :(


















The group : Tim, Andrea, Joel, Sarah, Me, Reyn, Todd and Jared.

I am very glad I went. We had a lot of fun. We really enjoyed our time with this group. It is fun to get to spend time together and not talk about p.a school. I had fun getting to know Andrea and Sarah better. Thanks for the great trip! :) And thank you Reyn for being so patient with me. I was slow going and got feisty certain times during the hike.


I forgot to post the picture of Reyn with the dog. When we started hiking down a dog came along with us. We read the tag on the dogs neck and said it had it's rabies shots. So the dog was named rabies then shortened to Rabes. Rabes stayed with us all the way down to the campsite. Then he started hiking out with us. We lost him somewhere along the way. thank goodness, because Reyn said if he followed us all the way back up to the Hilltop then he would come home with us.


































Monday, May 9, 2011

Hitched

C.j. and Amanda are married!

May 7, 2011 my little sis and Geegee got hitched!

*****These pictures are not at all in order. They do not even touch the surface of how gorgeous the wedding was and how amazing Amanda and C.j looked. But these are pictures from my camera, the few I do have of Amanda and C.j don't give them justice. But it is my blog and my pictures. So I'll do what I want :)


So Kind of a funny story. - Royce was supposed to be the ring bearer. Well right before the ceremony started Royce took the ring off the pillow and chucked it as far as he could. Luckily Hannah was in charge of the cd player. The ring rolled under a table by her and she was able to get it back on the pillow before the wedding started. Royce was not their ring bearer he didn't want anything to do with it. Uncle Donny got to bring the rings to the bride and groom. Donny had no idea what to do ha, good thing he stepped up though and took over for Royce.

Ok another funny story before we get to the pictures. Right when President Shumway was announcing "Mr. and Mrs Nikolaus" Reyn was handing Royce over to me. Right when I got Royce he let out a toot, not a very quiet one either. All of us on our row were trying so hard to keep it together. And not bust out laughing . Oh Royce only you could be so ornery and still be so cute!

here is my smokin hot outfit haha. :)

i love my red shoes!




my 2 very good looking boys!





4 generation picture. Royce decided to throw a fake fit and fake cry. He was feisty at the wedding. Royce, me, my mom(Royce's grandma) , my mom's dad(Royce's great grandpa).







Royce being a big boy sitting at the table eating his sandwich (sanditch-how he says it)


The best picture we got of the 3 of us from my camera. Seriously Royce would not cooperate the whole day.



Just the 2 of us! We look great :) just saying.


Royce decided he had had it with pictures. He stomped all the way down to the preschool across the street from the church. He just wanted to on the "wee", the slide. This top picture is Reyn bringing him back.



The picture below is Royce storming off in such protest. He had somewhere to go something to do and he didn't want to stay with the wedding line. No more pictures for him.








Another picture of my very active run away boy.




And another one.




The bride and groom cutting their cake!






Amanda's niece (well one them) She loved Amanda's dress and wanted to sit on her lap a lot. It was so cute!


I took this picture in the studio with my phone camera. It is kind of blurry. But Amanda still looks great!





Getting Amanda ready for the pictures and then the wedding! It was fun to have all us sisters in there helping her. Sam Ross was the most help. She did Amanda's hair and helped get everything together. She drove Amanda around. What a great friend to Amanda. Thanks Sam for everything! :)








CONGRATULATIONS AMANDA AND C.J! WE LOVE YOU GUYS!
































Sunday, May 1, 2011

Wicked wisdom tooth

*** Viewer discretion is advised! ***

I look awful but this blog is my journal in some ways.. so i am posting about my wisdom tooth experience. And this last week.




my left cheek is still swollen. it doesn't look as bad in this picture. but it is.



this picture shows it a little better than the first one.



I took a picture of my x-rays. the tooth was sitting on my nerve, sideways right up against my back molar. it was not a fun extraction!



On Thursday April 28Th I went in to get my last wisdom tooth pulled. I sat down and with in minutes Uncle Steve waved us in. So I went and sat down he gave me 3 shots. We waited a few minutes for it to kick in. Then he got started. After about 15 minutes in he says "I need the mallet and the chisel." My eyes went HUGE! My heart started pounding and I started to fear for my mouth. After 40 minutes into it he said he needed to take a break. Which was good for me because I needed to take a bathroom break. After the break I asked if the tooth was coming out and he said he hadn't even touched the tooth. He had to break away the bone that was covering the tooth first. And then watch for the nerves that the tooth was resting on. He had two dental hygienists in the room helping, I had probably 4 hands in my mouth at one time. It took an hour and 20 minutes to get the wisdom tooth out. He took 3 x-rays and kept turning back to it every time he was about to pound the heck out of my tooth. It was such a different experience than the 2 top teeth that were pulled. He warned me that it was going to be brutal. I don't think he realized it was going to be as bad as it was. I was his last extraction ever. Thursday was his last day. He said he will be back in once a week to finish up some things he started on people but that I was his last extraction. And it was one of his hardest ones.


So now here I am, today is Sunday, my mouth is still swollen a little, I can't open it all the way. I still have a stitch where the tooth was. I am paranoid about eating on or near the left side of my mouth. I haven't brushed my teeth as well as I want or need to. I still can't really sleep on my left side unless my cheek isn't on the pillow.


This week has been chaos. Monday I had Lena and Joy School here. Tuesday I had Lena. Wednesday I had Joy School again. My last time til we decide if we are going to start up again. :) I met up with a friend Wednesday and then watched another friends kids for a bit. Ran a bunch of errands. Then that night Royce decided to get sick. he woke up every 2 hours and he was running a fever and started coughing. Thursday I had to get an oil change on the truck run another errand or 2 then at 1 we dropped Royce off at Papa and Grandma's house. I went to my appointment spent and hour and a half there. My mom came into town Thursday night. I had Reyn give me a blessing, I am so glad I did. Royce woke up only once or twice that night, he was getting sicker :( I was given Lortab to take for the pain and I took it to go to bed. Well it made me extremely itchy and I didn't get much sleep at all. Friday my mom was here helping me with Royce all day. I felt like I needed to take him to the doctor because he had such a bad cough, fever and runny nose. So we took him in and they said he had a virus and that they couldn't give me anything to help him. I just had to keep doing what I was already doing. Friday night was awful! Royce has NEVER been so sick in his life! He didn't sleep at all he was coughing so hard and crying and he had such a high fever. My dad was in town with Donny and Hannah so He helped with Royce too. I had taken benedryl and a Lortab before bed and an hour after i fell asleep Royce woke up coughing it was so bad he couldn't even catch his breath. It scared the heck out of me! We got him medicine and Reyn sat up with him for a long time. Then my mom came in to relieve Reyn so he could get some sleep. And we heard my mom come out of Royce's room and it made us come out to see what was going on. Well Royce was coughing so bad that it made him puke mucus all over his bed! So Reyn and mom cleaned that up while I sat in the kitchen holding Royce. I am pretty sure none of us slept that night we were all so concerned about little Royce. Yesterday Royce was still pretty sick I kept him home all day and tried to relax. My mom and Hannah went home and Dad and Donny stayed here to help with Royce. Last night he actually slept through the night. We all heard him cough a lot and anticipated him waking up. But he never did. I am so glad. I don't think we got much sleep though, because every time we heard him I think we were all ready to run in and try to make him better. Today we stayed home from church. Royce and I relaxed and Reyn studied. Dad and Donny left this morning. I am so grateful for the help from my family this weekend. I am so grateful for prayer and for the priesthood. I don't think I would have been able to handle the last 3 days if it weren't for the blessing Reyn gave me. Today Royce is still on the mend. I hope to have him all better by tomorrow, Tuesday at the latest ha. This week is going to be a busy busy week so I need him in tip top shape. My mouth is still swollen a little it is still sensitive but I don't feel sick or anything. I gotta make it through this week healthy and be healthy for this weekend. It's Amanda's wedding!


Well there's my life over the last week! I hope this week will be better and I can get the many things done that I need to.