New Family Pictures

As you can probably already see, we got some new family pictures tonight. The kids survived (so did we) and the pictures turned out alright. All the black may look a bit grainy because my scanner isn't very good. My better scanner is in with the sleeping baby. So here they are!

DISNEYLAND!!! (It's a BIG post, you've been warned!)

We just got back from our 4 day vacation to California. It was tiring, but we had a lot of fun. We had 3 day park hopper tickets so we spent day 1 at Disneyland, day 2 just resting and swimming, day 3 at Disneyland, and day 4 at California Adventure. Then we drove home at about 7:30 pm and didn't get home until 3:00 am! We were tired. Kelton took a 4 1/2 hour long nap today. It was getting to the point where I was starting to worry about him! (I don't think he's ever taken a nap that long.) Here are some of the highlights.

My sister lives in the area and my parents were in California at the same time, so we all went to Disneyland together on our first day. This is us (not me, I'm behind the camera) waiting in line for the newly renovated It's A Small World ride. It was really fun and was Natalie's most requested ride. We ended up going on it 4 times. This was the only time we actually had to wait in line. Kelton really liked this ride too, although he got really mad every time the ride ended and I wouldn't let him get out of the boat and swim in the water.

Princesses and Fairies!

We thought we might skip the huge line to see the princesses this year after waiting 1 1/2 to 2 hours last year. But Natalie kept asking to see them so we did it. This time we made it through the line in a record 45 minutes. You kinda have to just get lucky because you don't know which three princesses will be inside when you go in, but Natalie got to see her favorite (at this particular time)--Sleeping Beauty. We got a bonus because Ariel came to trade with Sleeping Beauty while we were with her, so we got pictures with her too. We also saw Belle (Natalie loves her too) and Jasmine. We also waited in line at the new Pixie Hollow to see some fairies. Silvermist and Tinkerbell were inside. They are Natalie's two favorites from the movie.

Winnie the Pooh, and Tigger too! (and Rabbit) :)

Kelton was sooo excited by these big, huge, fuzzy, moving animals. He didn't stop laughing the whole time and screamed as soon as we started to leave. Natalie was so excited to see Tigger, she could hardly stand it. They put Tigger at the end of the line and she couldn't wait to get to him.

We had some rough patches with Kelton still needing to take naps, but we got a few in.

So even though most of our pictures are ones with characters in them (and we saw more than what I listed on here), we really did spend most of our time riding rides. It's just much harder to take pictures of that. Natalie had a lot of fun on most of the rides. The first thing we went on was the mini rollercoaster and she loved it. But the next day, we took her on Pirates of the Carribbean, which officially broke her. The very first drop on that is bigger than you think and it's in complete darkness. She was in tears after that and then she didn't want much to do with anyting too scary looking--including the rollercoaster she had already been on and loved! As I already mentioned, her main request after that was "Small World, because those boats don't have any drops." Anyway, here are a few pictures of rides. (Astro Orbiter, Teacups, and the Tuck and Roll ride--Natalie loved being able to drive on that one)

Beautiful sunset

So I was driving home from in town and turned a corner and was stunned by this beautiful sunset. The whole western sky was filled with huge puffy clouds that were a firey pink with the setting sun shining through the places between them. We get some good sunsets, but this is the best one I've seen in a while. Of course, all I had was my crappy camera phone so needless to say, the pictures just don't do it justice. (plus I was trying to drive at the time) There was WAY more pink and not so much yellow. It was ten times better in real life. But the pictures are still really pretty.

Little artist

So I wanted to post something other than horrible pictures of dog bitten faces--but I'm too lazy to get up and get my camera and take a new picture of Natalie right now. She is doing good though. The stitches came out last Friday. Now we will just have to wait and see how well it heals. Anyway, up until recently Natalie has just been a scribbler. She doesn't really draw anything and doesn't even try to color in the lines. Well, all that is changing now, and it's so fun to see. She is really into drawing people and the piles of pictures are starting to stack up. So I scanned some of my favorites so that I wouldn't feel bad about throwing them out--when she is not looking of course--and I even have to make sure they aren't showing in the trash or she will dig them out and ask me why her baby brother threw away her pictures. Here are a few that I was particularly proud of.

"Malefocent in the Fire"

(from the end of Sleeping Beauty)

I must admit, I was really proud of this one.

Funny story: I accidentaly ran the vaccum over this one today. The heat of the vaccum actually melted this nice orange crayon onto my carpet!

"Ariel

"Snow White"

This one is a bit abstract, but I reall liked it.

When will it stop?

This poor little girl. So yesterday morning's swelling was nothing. It's even worse today! Natalie wasn't wanting to take her medicine when she woke up so I took her to the mirror so she could see why she needed to take it. She looked in the mirror for a few seconds and then said "mom, my eye is broken!" I assured her is wasn't, but I'm not sure she was convinced. So, when is this swelling supposed to stop? Anyone??

Swollen

So Natalie's face is a bit swollen this morning. I probably should have been expecting that, but I wasn't. It's just so sad!! You can see in the pictures that she can't quite smile right. The first thing she told me this morning was "Momma, it still hurts." She's doing okay though. We went to Walgreen's this morning to fill her perscriptions and I let her get a new Princess coloring book. So she's actually pretty happy!

Natalie takes a Sunday evening trip to the ER

Tonight we went over to a friend's house to eat dinner and afterwards, the kids were all playing outside. Natalie ended up getting bit by one of their dogs. We were really worried about it scarring really bad so I took her to the hospital urgent care. She was so scared the whole time. They don't usually stitch up dog bites, but decided to do these ones. The top one was pretty open and would have scared really bad without stitches. They wrapped her up and covered her eyes (so nothing would get in them) and draped her face. Then they gave her a bunch of shots of lydocaine (sorry to all my nurse siblings for my lack of medical spelling). That poor little girl was so terrified but she did a really good job with the whole process. She got 3 stitches in the top one and 2 in the bottom one. What really stinks too is that animal control is probably going to have to take our friend's dog away for 10 days to quarantine it. Anyway, that is our fun for the night.

The top bite looks worse in this picture because the blood had run down her cheek. The thicker part is the bite--you can see where the blood ran off the side. I took this picture with my phone right after we got to the hospital. You can see how scared she looks.

This is the "after" picture. She fell asleep in the car on the way home and this is Nate bringing her in.

Natalie's 4th Birthday

Natalie just turned 4 years old! For her birthday this year, we headed to Snowflake so she could spend her birth day with all of her grandparents. She had so much fun. Her birthday was on Sunday so we had a little birthday party for her on Saturday. That morning we headed to Show Low (or Jello, as she calls it--"Momma, are we in Jello?" or "Melanie lives in Jello"). My sister Melanie's in laws have a pony and Natalie got to ride it. Needless to say, after riding around for a while, she did NOT want to leave. She didn't even care that there was a birthday party later. She just wanted to stay and ride the pony. After that, we hurried home so I could finish her Barbie/Sleeping Beauty cake, which she absolutely loved. We planned to have her party at the Pioneer Park so the kids could play, but that only lasted long enough to take a few pictures of her with her cake. We could tell that the rain was coming and as soon as we had decided to leave and gotten back in the car it started pouring. So we moved the party to Grandma and Grandpa Webb's. The next morning, on Natalie's birthday, she got to open all of her presents from us. She has been waiting for this for a long time and was so excited. She was also very excited to be 4 years old. We had a great weekend!

Relief from the heat

This afternoon we got our first rain! It's been so hot that this was a most welcome change. This is the first time Kelton has ever seen rain. (well, old enough to react to it, I should say) I don't think I need to tell you how he felt about it--the pictures speak for themselves. You can see that his arms are going like ninety miles a minute in this first one.

Water Babies

We've always known that Natalie loves water, but we found out that Kelton does too! After over a week of 100+ degree temperatures, we put up the pool in our back yard. Natalie remembers the pool from last year and was very excited. Kelton has never been in a pool of any kind. This was the first time he's ever been in a swimsuit--and he looks so cute! He didn't stop smiling the whole time he was in the pool. It was very easy to get some cute pictures of him. After the kids got out, we had dinner. As soon as dinner was done, Natalie was begging to get back in the pool. Poor kid is going to have to wait until Monday to get back in--I hope she can survive until then! There's a video of the kids at the bottom of the pictures. It's just randomness of them in the pool. They had already been in for a while by that point, so I didn't get the really good stuff recorded.

Dinner conversation

Nate got me some flowers for mothers day and they are in a vase on the table. Natalie really likes them and was looking at them at dinner. This is our conversation:

Natalie: "Those are your flowers."

Me: "Yep."

Natalie: "Mom, will you get me a present for Mother's day?"

Me: "No, you aren't a momma."

Natalie: "Not yet."

Me: "Mother's day is for mommas."

Natalie: "Yep. And when it's Little Girl's day, it will be for Natalies!"

I then told her I would get her a present when it was Little Girl's day.

There's a first time for everything

So I have been a mother for four years now (minus a few days) and I have actually never had a child with an ear infection. Until today. This afternoon Natalie was complaining that her ear hurt. Then about an hour later she was moaning. So we went to the doctor, and sure enough, she has an ear infection. Poor thing. But it doesn't seem to be a real bad one, and the medicine has made it feel better. And here are a few cute pictures of Natalie that I took the other day. I noticed that I don't have any real good pictures of my kids on here, including the family one at the top. (Natalie would not cooperate that day.) But these ones are cute. And for any of you who don't know Natalie, her personality is as cute as her facial expressions.

She's about to flee in this next one, if you can't tell.

Randomness from my phone

So here is some random stuff off of my cell phone. I took this picture the other day when we were on a walk. I know I'm not the first person to take a picture like this, but that doesn't make it any less cute. And this is the first time I've ever tried to put a video on the blog. So I have no idea if it will work or not. It's not very steady because I shot it myself using my phone. Kelton didn't want to say anything but "hi" no matter what I told him to say--probably because he could see the phone and that's what you say into a phone. I think I did get him to say 'dog.' Anyway, we will see if it works!

If the potatoes poison us...

One of these days I really will have some new pictures to post--but we just haven't taken any lately. But Natalie keeps saying funny things, so I have to post them. The latest was our dinner prayer tonight. I made stir fry for dinner. Ours is pretty plain--consisting of chicken, noodles, and potatoes. When Natalie was Kelton's age, she loved this meal. A few months ago she started refusing to eat it at all. Recently, she has started eating the noodles and sometimes the chicken. She all out refuses the potatoes. In fact, she won't eat any potatoes at all. (unless they are french fries) So here is Natalie's blessing on the food:

"Dear Heavenly Father, we're thankful for this day. Do not bless the potatoes. Bless the noodles. In the name of Jesus Christ amen."

FHE--Strike 2

Okay, since last week's family home evening went so well....Natalie is at it again. Tonight it was her turn to say the opening prayer. Here's the gist of how this one went. What Natalie said is in red and what I said to help her is in black.

Natalie: "Dear Heavenly Father, we're thankful for our blessings. (Then unintelligible stuff that included the word 'barbie' somewhere in there) (We're thankful for our family) Help us to get presents. (help us to be reverent) Help us to get presents. (Help us to be reverent) Help us to be reverent. (help us to listen) Help me to get presents. In the name of Jesus Christ, amen."

Apparently, Natalie has one thing on her mind right now. Ask and ye shall receive, right?