New Swingset!

Tige has a secret way of getting things he wants. It's called badger and pester the wife about it until she finally says "fine! If you'll just shutup about it, you can get it!" This is the way he got his truck, his xbox 360, his flatscreen TV, and most recently his road bike. Well guess what folks? It works for me too. I've been badgering and pestering Tige to get the kids a nice swingset for at least a year. "We need it this summer so the kids can play on it while I'm dealing with the new baby . . . " It worked! Tige broke down and bought this AWESEOME swingset at Costco. Then we just had to build it . . .

2.5 weeks later it's finished, and I must say, it's magnificent. It was beastly to put together, probably took us about 30 hours all together. We spent the first 3 hours just sorting through the hundreds of pieces of wood and sorting & labeling the thousands of pieces of hardware. Once that was done though, it made it so much faster and smoother. My husband is a master builder, and I read the instructions, told him what to do, and gathered supplies. It was fun to build it together. The kids already love it! So do I.

Getting started--the picnic table and the base of the playhouse.

Gathering wood for the next step.

Starting on the roof

More roof

Abby, our "good" helper

Roof finished

Last screws in the bay window

Bay window and sides finished.

Rounded "peeping" window

Swings up! We actually finished the swinging portion around 8:00 p.m., just getting dark and ready for the kids to go to bed. But Tige insisted they must swing. So we turned on the outside lights and let them swing in the dark. They loved it.

Dormer Windows

Ratchet Abby, again such a "good" helper. Why does everything go in her mouth? Yuck.

Installing the steering wheels

and telescope.

Completely finished. So exciting.

A friendly game of tic-tac-toe.

Now I need a patio set so I can sit in a cushy chair outside and watch the kids while reading a book. Let the badgering begin!

Moab Half Marathon & Hospital visit

Today Tige ran the Moab Half Marathon. It was his 2nd half marathon, and he did great by beating his first time by 15 minutes. Kirk & Matt both ran it too, so the boys have had a good time talking about it and anticipating it for awhile.

The weekend didn't go at all as planned. We were supposed to leave to Monticello/Moab on Friday morning when Kason got out of school. Instead, Kason woke up at 3:00 a.m. coughing very hard and complaining of pain. I gave him some cough medicine, a drink and tucked him back in. An hour later, I could hear him crying, and I went in his room to find him gapsing for air and writhing in pain. I quickly got Tige to look at him, and we decided a trip to the ER was in order. I took him to the hospital where the admitting nurse promptly announced over the walkie-talkie that she had a 6 year old in "respiratory distress." If that doesn't get a mother's heart racing, I don't know what does. The nurses and Dr.'s checked him out and sent him for an x-ray of his chest/lungs. We waited FOREVER to get the results of the x-ray, but they gave Kason some pain medication, and soon he was breathing more easily. I read a whole Magic Tree House book to him while we waited. Eventually he was diagnosed with pleurisy, which is a viral inflammation of the lungs. They sent us home with some lortab/tylenol to treat the pain. Yesterday was a horrible day with him laying in the chair like a zombie running a really high fever. He wouldn't eat anything all day and only drank about 2 oz of fluid. That's soooo not like Kason. He hardly moved or spoke all day. I've never seen him so sick. Abby also has a cold, so it has not been a fun weekend. Today, Kason is doing better and I can see that soon he'll be good as new. We feel bad we missed dad's race, but we hear that there were so many people there (5,000 runners) we probably wouldn't have seen him anyway.

Kason said some really funny things in the hospital that I want to remember, so I'll jot them down. They told him they were going to take an x-ray, and me said to me, “if they take too many pictures of you, it could fry your brain and kill you!” (He’d apparently seen this on 1000 Ways To Die, a TV show that mom doesn't approve of, but I think dad let's him watch when I'm not around). As he was being wheeled down the hall for the x-ray he said “good thing I don’t have a brain-eating amoeba.” They asked if he’d had chicken pox, and he said “what are chicken pox?” We explained it to him and he said “oh, kind of like poison ivy!” While laying in the bed waiting for x-ray results, he said “I’m totally miserable.” Such a cute little trooper.

Wintery Weekend at the Cabin

We had a quiet, relaxing, yet scary weekend at my parents cabin at Panguitch Lake. We went up Friday with my mom and dad. The road was closed between Brian Head and the cabin, so we had to go the long away around through Panguitch. We also have to park the truck and snowmobile in during the winter time. We had fun sledding Saturday morning until he started to snow, HARD. It snowed all day Saturday, all night, and into Sunday afternoon. We were expecting a little snow, but not like that. The wind howled and made massive drifts. We had reservations to go tubing at the ski lift at Brian Head, but had to cancel them since the road between the cabin and Brian Head was closed.

Sunday when we tried to leave, there were 6 foot high drifts of fresh powder between the cabin and the truck, and after hours of my dad and Tige trying to break through the drifts and getting the snowmobiles stuck, we were afraid we were snowed in at the cabin. Tige even called his work to tell them he might not make it to work Monday morning. Finally, they went around the back way to another road where the drifts weren't so high and were able to make it to the truck. It was a fun weekend of watching movies in the theater room and playing games, but a little nerve racking as we didn't think we were going to get out of there. In the 4 years my parents have been going up there, they've never seen snow like that.

Dad & Abby ready for sledding. Abby LOVED being out in the snow, although she had to be held most of the time because she kept falling down.

This picture reminds me of how the kids are bundled up in the movie "The Christmas Story." I never thought I'd be a mom who bundled my kids up like that. But hey, I'm raising warm weather wimps from St. George--we get cold in the snow!

Ready, set, GO!

They biffed it during one of their runs. Kason was good to hold on to Abby, but she didn't like when they fell off.

Even dad got in on some tubing action!

I snapped this picture just before the kids slammed into me with the sled. It hit me in the shins and took my legs right out from under me. Down went my big, pregnant body, and the kids got pushed into a bush where Abby's face got scratched up. I was laughing and crying at the same time because I'm sure it looked funny, yet I could have blinded my children by knocking them into the bush. Anyway, not my finest moment as a mother.

Building "creations."

Thanks mom and dad for taking us, and especially for getting us home safely in all that snow.

Molten Chocolate Lava Cake

The other day I walked into our office, and Tige quickly minimized the internet as if I'd caught him in the act of looking at something naughty. The funny thing was, he was obviously watching a cooking demo of some sort because even though the screen was minimized, I could still hear someone explaining how to make something delicious. I just laughed at him, knowing he was about to make me something fabulous!

Fast forward to dinner, and he made my absolute favorite dessert--Molten Chocolate Lava Cake. (Applebee's has the best one in case you're wondering). We all loved it--it was by far the most delicious of the scrumptous desserts he's made lately. He's a keeper that's for sure!

Baked Alaska

Tige is at it again. First Creme Brulee, now Baked Alaska. He suddenly comes up with these ideas for making exotic desserts. This one was courtesy of a how-to video by Chef Gordon Ramsay. Freeze the ice cream in a mold (he used our ramekins from the creme brulee), and then layer it with cake, ice cream cake.


Then whip up an italian meringue, coat it, and torch it! Do you think he just likes playing with the torch?

And enjoy the finished product. I wonder what he'll come up with next . . .

No more Trampoline Crying

Less than a month ago, I blogged about how Abby was a boo-boo baby on the trampoline. When I put her on it in February, she cried and was petrified and wouldn't even stand up by herself. Fast forward a few weeks later--she's done a complete 180. Tige took her out on Tuesday for her 2nd attempt on the tramp, and she LOVED it. I guess she just needed her daddy to show her how it's done. I took her out yesterday, and she giggled and laughed the whole time we were out there. What little hair she has was standing straight up with static, and it was sooooo fun to listen to her giggle with delight!