Little Pioneer Children

We had a great week! The only blip was Everett coming down with his cough again. He started coughing last Saturday, by Wednesday evening he was running a high fever and cough/barfing again. Nothing seems to help relieve his misery. He is taking cough syrup, zyrtec, allegra, two inhaled steroids, "Breathe" oil, and pain reliever. Evelyn was up a couple nights this week with teething pain. I took her in the basement Wednesday night, Everett was in our bed at the time. He had a nasty coughing fit and ended up barfing all over our bed. We were too tired to dig out new sheets so slept on our bed with only the comforter. I took him back to the Dr for a useless visit. I requested a Pertussis swab, they reluctantly took it. I am praying that we can get our little guy better. What ever this is allergy medications don't help, cough syrups don't help, and natural oils don't help. Mom suggested trying unfiltered vinegar to raise his body pH levels. I will give it a try!

Even with a sick and cranky Everett we enjoyed a couple fun activities. Monday I was determined to take the kids to Bridgeport Lake. The night before Evelyn was up and busy half the night. We made it to the lake and enjoyed several hours of swimming and playing in the sand on a hot day. Maren and Sarah joined us with their kids. Evelyn loved her floatie this time around. There was a hole in the floatie that I stuck my hand through several times. She thought that was the silliest thing ever and graced us with cute belly laughs. Evelyn ate a couple pounds of sand. The kids were in heaven just basking in the outdoors. I am sad that Maren is moving back to SLC soon, we will miss her! The flies this year are just terrible. A literal swarm came back with us in the van. Dang flies are too smart to enjoy fly tape. The kids are not closing the garage door when they go outside, that means at least 5-6 new flies wander into our house about 10 times per day. I might need to wear a utility belt with an array of fly swatters. We had a FHE on serving in the family. I challenged everyone to find ways to serve each other throughout the week and fill out a heart for their efforts. Amelia got up early on Tuesday and cleaned the bathroom! She stuck a heart on the door all by her self. Phillip helped me make my bed. Everett cleaned up the toys in the living room. I arranged a date with Justin. Justin helped out around the house. Amelia's service was the most tender.

Sunday night and Wednesday I sewed up pioneer outfits for the girls. I really enjoyed a change of pace back to my sewing room. I made Evelyn a little dress and Amelia a skirt, both girls got an apron and bonnet. The aprons were sewed using old pillowcases someone had embroidered on, I love finding old stuff like that at Salvation Army!

Wednesday evening our ward had a Pioneer Day picnic. The ward provided hot dogs or burgers, the rest was pot lucked. Justin was unfortunately detained at work until almost 9 pm. We went without him (crying face). I am grateful to Amy and Tammy who helped me make food plates for my family and carry them! Everett was running around and got too excited, he barfed several times while we stood in line. The kids were so excited about all the games they left their plates to the flies. I think the flies carried the plates away. Amelia was so disgusted about the flies she ate part of her dinner while walking around. It was a good opportunity to talk about the Pioneers and some of the trials they endured...including insects with their dinner. I was in charge of the games with my scouts. We had two-legged races, pillow case race, and stick pulling. Each boy was in charge of a game! They passed off a requirement for their Faith in God. I looked over at one point to find Phillip hanging from the satellite like a monkey. I quickly shooed him off and bent the satellite arm back into position. Little stinker. 

Thursday Amelia, Evelyn, and I had a girl date with Sheena and her daughter Leah. We took the girls out for a photo session. Leah turned one and Evelyn 11 months. Amelia came along to pull the little wagon and Evelyn. We collected more flies in the van. Evelyn is so darn cute. I cannot help it. I absolutely love that I can take beautiful photos (and lots of them) of my children. It makes my heart super happy. Amelia endured the photos then got rewarded with a trip for ice cream. She ordered a cone AND a slushie. Evelyn even got her own ice cream cone. She ate almost the entire thing. Several folks commented about Amelia's cute pioneer outfit. I enjoyed hearing her tell them about Pioneer Day and her ancestors.

Friday morning I had a photo session with little 5 day old Sawyer Brady. His aunt is Meagan Smuin! Meagan drove out from SLC with her sister for a visit to see little Sawyer. Stella and Amelia got to play Wednesday and Friday. Meagan came along to the session to visit. She is so amazing with my little boys. She kept them busy without any TV for 3 hours. That was the best gift a friend can give. Trevor is a basketball player so we used some basketball stuff, he also served his mission in Africa so we also tried out a lion set up outside. Justin and I went on a fun date. Neliegh came and watched all 4 kids for 2.5 hours. We went to dinner at Sam and Louie's pizza then met Kirtis and Gina Hill at the shotgun range for skeet shooting. We played rounds twice, shooting in turn 25 rounds per game. Gina and I did pretty well considering the guys have a lot more experience with their shot guns. My little kid shotgun packs a pretty powerful punch, even with 2 3/4 inch rounds. I have an impressive bruise on my shoulder the size of a plate. I tried to adjust the stock to a different position after the first game. Ended up with a bruise on my cheek as well! LOL. The sunset was so impressive as it was slightly raining. What a nice change from our usual dates.

The kids were holy terrors on Saturday. Justin was crabby as well. By evening he was acting like I do after a full day of kids. His state of emotional and physical distress were so familiar that I could not help but find the humor in it all. Justin, Amelia, and Everett all took long naps. We enjoyed a picnic in our side yard as a family.