August 2010

On Irma's birthday, we went to a park in Spanish Fork that Clarissa had reserved. Clarissa had invited friends and family to come to the party. We ate tostadas. (those things that are have beans, meat, and salad on top of a hard flat tortilla). There was also a pinata that the girls had lots of fun with.

On the way home, it was raining pretty hard. When we got home, Ryan took some pictures of the sky and clouds, because it was so beautiful. This is my favorite, but they all looked lovely.

Beautiful sunset:

Standing in the gutter with Dad (there was so much water, and it was so warm in the gutter)


Standing in the gutter with Mom

Some happenings from August:

Ryan was put in Elder's Quorum Presidency on August 1st. He is the 2nd Counselor.

I was put in as Secretary of the Library Board on August 5. I have served on the Santaquin Library Board for a couple of years, but it was recently formalized, and actual positions were assigned.

I ran the Santaquin 5k on August 7. I ran pretty much the whole thing, and I was running alone. I'm not sure of my time, but I was just happy I finished, and only ran about 1/2 block of the whole thing.

Katie is tracing letters really well. This was her first time tracing letters, back in June.



Elayna loves swimming in the pool. She gets so excited! The first couple of times this year she was very hesitant. Then one day, she just decided she loved it and didn't want me to hold on to her or anything. She has water wings on, but it still makes me nervous if I'm not near her.

Katie was playing a game with her cousins, and I overheard her say, "No, we need a tall, old mom! " Apparently the person that wanted to play Mom wasn't tall enough. Or old.

Elayna had an unknown allergic reaction on Aug 9. She was just playing downstairs, and when she came up, her eye looked like this. We have no idea what it was, or where she would have gotten something that bothered her eye. She plays down there all the time, and hasn't had any problems before.


We bought some shelves for our food storage room on Aug 10. I love how organized it now looks.



This is Katie and Elayna climbing GG's tree on Aug 12:


GG invited us to come over and pick some plums. They both climbed up without any problems. Elayna needed some boosting, but they were having fun until they realized they would have to climb down. Katie got really scared. She wanted me to just carry her down, which I could have done, since it wasn't a very high tree. But I stuck to my guns and told her if she climbed up, she had to climb down. I helped her find places to put her feet, and braced her if she wasn't steady, but she did it herself.


On Aug 19, this is what the bathroom tile looked like:


After I stained the grout:

My sister Alisha had a new baby boy named Nicholas Marcel on Aug 24. We are so excited for her!

Katie had an open house for Preschool on Aug 27. We went and met the teachers, and looked around the rooms she would be in. The preschool is taught by Stacy Ercanbrack and Erin Jarrett. It's called VIP Preschool.

She started school on Aug 31. Here are some pictures of her first day.

Showing off her backpack and outfit. I love Elayna looking up at Katie.



Her backpack:



Standing by her desk:



Katie hanging up backpack at school:


Ryan planted a new Mulberry tree for me on Aug 29. I hope it lives up to my expectations of what I think it should be. I want lots of shade in the backyard so I can get Ryan to come out there once in a while.

Ryan trying to teach Katie to ride without training wheels:

Say Cheese!

Katie and Elayna love to pose for the camera. Here are the latest moments in life that they have requested a picture be taken of them.

Clarissa brought some headbands from Mexico back for the girls: (May 2010)

Walking on the sidewalk that leads to Amanda's house, and Grandma Paula and Grandpa Craig's house: (June 2010)

Eating cookies on our back porch: (July 2010)

Katie has figured out that I like it when she hugs Elayna, so if Katie wants a picture taken, she will hug Elayna and say, "take a picture mom!" (August 2010)

After-Bath time:

Dress up time!

Health Issues

On June 22, I took Elayna to the doctor. She had been complaining about pain when she went potty, so I thought she might have a urinary tract infection. The doctor and nurse asks lots of questions, and left me feeling as though I didn't really have a reason to come in. Most of my answers were "I don't know", "I'm not sure", "It's so hard to tell". They decided that we needed to check her urine, and since she isn't really potty trained, they had to put a catheter in. The nurse hadn't done it before, as far as I could tell.

We had to strip her naked, then hold her down while the nurse cleaned the area. Then we really had to hold her down while the doctor tried to put the catheter in. I can tell you, I still feel like crying when I think about it. To have to watch your child be in pain because of a decision you made (even if it is to make her better) is an awful feeling. I hated having to hold her down while she was screaming and squirming in pain.

Finally it was over, and I just held her close for a while. They said the results would come back in a day or two. If she got a fever, threw up, etc, then I should come in before that.
Well, on the 25th, she had a fever, and was crabby. I called the doctor, and he told us to come in. They got the test results back and I think the doctor and I were both relieved that she actually did have an infection. Not because we wanted her to be sick, but that there was something we could treat. He put her on an antibiotic, and she got better.

On July 3, we had a Charles and Irmadell DeGraffenried Reunion. The day before, and the morning of the reunion, my back had hurt, but I figured I had just worked too hard or something. We had lots of fun at the reunion. It is amazing how I can feel so close to these people that I only see once a year, if that.

Ryan was so great, he took the girls home and put them in bed so I could stay and clean up. Then I went over to Mom and Dad's house to visit with Jean, Sandra, Cynthia, and my parents. It was really fun. When I got home, Ryan and I started watching a Monk episode (we bought all 7 seasons, because we enjoy it so much). At about 10:00, my back was just hurting so bad. It almost felt like I was in labor, it hurt so much. I took some medicine, and tried to lay down, but nothing helped. Thankfully, we have 2 P A's in the family, (my brother Mike, and Ryan's sister Clarissa) and they were both great enough to give us advice about what we should do. I eventually threw up, and that was the clincher to go the hospital.

At this point it was 11:00, and the girls were of course asleep, so I called my Mom and told her I needed to go to the hospital. She said, "I'll be right there". What a blessing to have her so close!

At the hospital they took some urine, put me on some Morphine, and then we just sat there for about 2 hours. They kept checking on me, and told me I had a "rip-roaring case of kidney infection". After they made sure the antibiotic they had given me was going to stay down, they released us and we went and got some medicines from the pharmacy.

Thankfully, I never hurt again once we left the hospital. I did get a fever on the 4th, and it was pretty bad. I was sleeping at my parent's house because Ryan and the girls had gone to celebrate the holiday with the Bowman family. I woke up from a nap, and my face was bright red, and my temperature was about 103 degrees. My parents were understandably worried, so we again called Mike and Clarissa and the hospital. The consensus was that I just needed to take acetaminophen and ibuprofen alternately until the fever went down.
It finally did go down, and the rest of the week I just laid around and rested. Ryan was able to stay home on the 5th, I hung out at Mom's on the 6th, and by then I was feeling pretty normal. Irma and Amanda both offered to help too.

Wow. What a relief it is to have good health. Katie hasn't seen the doctor, except for well child checks, and Elayna had only seen the doctor for excema before this. Ryan and I are pretty healthy, and the only reason we go to the doctor is for our yearly exam. Well, Ryan has gone once in the 10 years we have been married, but I go every year.

Also, on July 17, my Dad went in for a major back surgery. They fused 4 disks together, and took another one out. We are so blessed that the surgery went really well, and took less time than we planned. Mom, Amanda, Dennis, and I hung out at the hospital while he was in surgery. I think we had a lot of fun. We played the card game Phase 10, watched funny videos, talked, had lunch, and just enjoyed the time together. Dad came home on Tuesday, the 20th. He is still recovering, but he says the pain in his back that hurt his legs is now gone.

Jonathan and Gillian had their 2nd baby on July 28th. His name is Scott Gerald. I have only seen pictures, and a very fuzzy Skype image, but he seems pretty cute.

Project Update

I decided I just had to have new garden boxes this year. This is the big pile of way-to-expensive dirt that I had delivered to my home. The girls had so much fun playing in it. Katie was completely black all over. She is so good, she went into the house and got all cleaned up before I could get a picture. I think that was the dirtiest I have ever seen her.


My Garden boxes before:


My garden boxes now:


Thanks to Jerry and Irma for the work, time and money donated. Thanks to my parents for the money, time, and lots of advice donated. Thanks to Ryan for listening, giving advice, putting them together, and helping with all steps of the process.

We got our garden planted. Nothing was really growing, so Dad and Irma both advised putting fertilizer on it. I'm pretty sure I could see a difference within a day or two. Now it is beautiful, and has tomatoes, onions, some peppers, and flowers growing in it. All the other things I planned on planting died, or didn't get watered enough at first, or got heat stroke, or the seeds were bad... plenty can go wrong with growing things.

In March, I decided that my kitchen tile grout looked stained and faded. This is the before picture: (yes, I scrubbed it clean before this picture)


My tile grout after:



You might not notice a difference, but I think it looks a lot cleaner and more uniform in color. I'm very happy with the result.

Evans Reunion July 28-31, 2010

Random swimming pictures. The men (and some of the boys) were playing a pool game. Ryan was obviously winning in this picture:

There can be lots of people in the pool at the same time. We have a rule that we need at least 2 adults just sitting out of the pool, watching, just to make sure everyone is okay. The kids can swim pretty well, and if they can't, they have to wear wings, but we just want to make sure. A couple of times we have caught kids jumping in without wings, and thankfully caught them before any problems arise.




Cute pictures of my girls:

Elayna:


Katie:




Mom, Mike, Kristine, Kylie, and Katie went to the cemetary to look at Granny and Grandpa's grave. These are the flowers they brought:



This is Mom explaining where her Mom and Dad are to Katie and Kylie:





Wed night-Girls night out! The women went to Zupas to eat:



then we ran some errands. We had to be back by 8:30 for Ryan's appt. He was called as 2nd Counselor in the Elder's Quorum. The guys watched the children at Dad's house.

Thurs night-The guys got food from Bajios and ate it at Dad's house. The women and children came to my house. Kids played in the water outside while the moms talked and fed the kids.





I had to leave for 20 minutes. While I was gone, of course, Katie got hit on her mouth with a stick. She was bleeding pretty bad, I guess. Mom took her over to her house, where Mike The PA was able to diagnose that there probably wouldn't be permanent damage. In fact, the swelling had gone down significantly by morning.

Friday-breakfast at 8 (supposedly. My family didn't show up till about 9). Mike and Kristine prepared some Chile Relleno casserole for the adults, and the children had Chocolate Marshmallow Mateys:

We started our annual Ping Pong Tournament. Ryan (and some of the girls) kept score:


Amanda playing Mike:



Naomi and Dennis were in charge of sandwiches for lunch. Then we went to Payson Pool, where we only lost a couple of kids a couple of times. :) We all really enjoyed the pool. Then David and Janica brought yummy Dominos pizza for dinner at the park. We took the kids home to babysitters, then the adults returned to Mom and Dad's house to enjoy homemade raspberry ice cream and talking. We continued the Ping Pong Tournament as much as possible. Josh and Joe, the 2 oldest grandchildren, were also in the tournament. And yes, I lost to both of them.
Ryan, however, was fantastic! He was doing so great!

Saturday-slow going in the morning. My family didn't show up till about 10. Jay and Amanda made pancakes with amazing syrup, fruit, and hashbrowns. Most of the kids had cereal again.

We hiked to the Payson Grotto:

Katie

Those watching:

Playing at the grotto


Marissa and Elayna:


Katie:

We played for about an hour there. Some of the older kids and their parents hiked above the waterfall. Then we bought some more groceries, and went home to change out of all the wet clothes. Mom and Dad fixed BLT's and corn on the cob for lunch. We tried to get some pictures, and swim, but it started to storm, so we just did pictures.

Picture of the Girls (except Kylie) :

Kylie:

Close up of Katie:


Close up of Elayna:

Picture of Boys:

Ryan and I did a Pasta Bar for dinner, then we watched "Tooth Fairy" while the Ping Pong Tournament was finished. Amanda won, with Ryan as a close second. We had popcorn, swedish fish, and cups of water. It was complicated with the kids, to say the least.

After the movie was over, we made sure the house was clean, had family prayer, and we all went home. We were all exhausted, but we had such a great time!

The girls loved playing with their cousins ("and friends", as I'm frequently reminded by Katie). Both girls were so exhausted, but they had so much fun!

Ryan and I really enjoyed visiting with the adults. I love spending time with my siblings and their families. The night us women went out, we just talked about everything. From "When to tell your children where they come from-physically" to "Advice on grocery shopping and coupon-ing". I just thoroughly enjoyed the time we had together as a family.