Planting Time

We have a somewhat random garden.  We have things planted all over our yard, including the front.  Last year we used half of our retaining wall to plant our pumpkins and squash.  They grew great there, and were so easy to pick because you didn't have to bend down at all.  So this year we decided to plan 4 rows of beans there.  I am excited.  I hope that they come up soon because Chad might grow crazy waiting around for them to pop up.  The boys were thrilled to help their dad plant.  Here's hoping that nothing freezes, and you never know with our crazy Idaho weather.

Claire's Dance Pictures

This is what happens . . .

when you don't hear from your 11 month old daughter for 5 minutes.  She crawls into the boys bedroom and helps herself to their Easter Baskets.  She was quite proud of herself!

Easter 2011

Happy Easter!!  The kids were thrilled that it was finally Easter day.  We have church at 8:30 so the Easter Bunny was kind enough to leave a note with some candy that said he would bring their baskets while they were at church.  It made them quite good during church.

 I worked hard all week finishing their Easter outfits.  Claire was thrilled with her dress.  Owen always loves a new tie, and Grant and Ava don't care what they are wearing.  It is always fun to see them all dressed up and matching.

 The kids got a trampoline for Easter this year.  It was something we were going to get them anyways, so we decided to give it to them as a gift.  There were chocolate eggs headed from the upstairs down to the backyard.  They had fun discovering their baskets.

Easter Egg Hunts

The kids were able to attend two egg hunts this year.  The first one was at the church.  It is always quick and fun for the kids.  Thankfully there was no snow this year.  It still wasn't the warmest day, but it was much better than having Easter in March.  Grant was thrilled with this new to him concept, and had a great time.  Claire and Owen are experts by now so they didn't require much help.

The second egg hunt was at Grandma and Grandpa Clayson's house. Grandma and Grandpa took all the grandkids on a ride to see the cows while the adults hid all the eggs.  The kids love riding in the back of the pickup.  Grandma always has fun things for the kids to find.  This year she had bubbles with their names on them.  Grant was estatic!!  Ava loved getting to chew on as many plastic eggs and she desired.  It was a fun day.

Easter Eggs

Last year I failed miserably when it came to Easter Festivities.  I'm not sure why, so this year I was determined to at least get egg dying in before Easter.  We managed to do it on Friday night which was great.  Grant had never really dyed eggs, so it was so much fun to watch him.  He was very excited.  A bonus is that "egg" is actually a word that he can say, so he was happy that we all understood what he was saying.

 Chad gave Ava a hard boiled egg.  She wasn't sure what to think about it.

 Grant with his first egg.  He was so excited.

 Owen - not really sure what to say.

 Claire with her sweet smile.  Don't let her fool you!

 Our finished product.

Hospital

We had a crazy week this week.  Chad started getting sick last week but we just assumed it was the flu that we had all had.  I told him to rest for a day, and he should be feeling better in a couple of days.  He kept getting worse.  So on Saturday he went to the quick care and was diagnosed with strep and was given IV fluids because he was so dehydrated from not being able to keep anything down.  He came home, and we thought he was on the mend.  Then on Sunday night he started throwing up again and was in so much pain.  Once he threw up blood it was off to the emergency room for us.  Once there we never anticipated getting to stay for 3 days.  Chads blood work showed that his kidneys weren't functioning well.  Apparently sometimes when you get that sick the first thing to stop working are your kidneys.  He was given morphine for the pain, and IV fluids for 3 days.  It was terrible timing since he was on the tail end of this semester, but his professors have all been very nice about the whole thing.  They are working with him so hopefully all his work won't be for nothing.

He is still not feeling 100 percent.  We will find out tomorrow if his blood work is coming back more normal, and his kidneys are working better.  Hopefully he is on the mend because I don't want to go back to the hospital (at least until I have surgery).  Thank you to everyone who helped.  Chad's mom had the 3 youngest and my friends helped me with Claire.  We appreciate all the support, phone calls, and dinners.  I thought it would be easy once he was home, but there was extra work.  It is a blessing to have such a wonderful ward and great friends.