Trip home for Mom's Birthday!!

This last weekend was my mom's birthday. Both Anna and I went home and took our kids. It was a fun filled weekend with lots of Grand-kids. Three kids at home is a lot more work than when I was just little Gretta. But my mom handled it well and loved having everyone visit. It was so nice to have such a short flight from SLC to BOI. Plus the SLC and Boise airports are so low key compared to LAX. The flight was completely full due to some football game. I was tempted to give up my seat until I realized I would have to fly to California and back to get home that night with two kids. Oh well. There is always next time.
Friday night after we got there they took us to Chuck a Rama. Jackson was with Nana & Papa but Anna was still at her girls weekend, so it was 4 adults and 3 kids. It was kind of wild. Gretta feed Jackson a whole bowl of chocolate pudding all by herself. Jackson would just open up wide. We made a huge mess, but had a good time.

Here are Eliza and Jackson together in the bath tub. Jackson weight almost 5 lbs more than Eliza. He is one solid kid.

Breakfast together

Saturday
First thing in the morning we went to JcPenny's to get family pictures taken. All my mom wanted for her birthday was a picture of the grand kids. Well that was a lot easier said than done. It was quite the circus. We never really got a good picture. Eliza and Jackson wouldn't go to either my mom or dad, or sit by themselves without crying. In one of the pictures my mom is holding both Eliza and Jackson who are crying and Gretta is standing next to her like an angle. At least the big group picture turned out okay.

Then we went to the park for a picnic lunch.

Nana playing with the grand kids while...

Pops and the moms relaxed.

Beautiful Flowers from Carpenter's for my mom from Aunt Marie.

Saturday Afternoon

My Dad took Gretta and I boating. Gretta LOVES the Boat!!! She was so excited to go fast and giggle the whole time.

Boating babe!

Photo of Pops by Gretta. Aka Captain Jack

Saturday Night Bath Time

After a great dinner at Yang Cheng the kids all took a bath together.

Sunday

Mom opening her presents after dinner

Grandpa and Eliza

Anna and Jackson

Playing Gestures

The big party!!!

Nana, Gretta, Eliza and Bailey with their sleep masks on.

Pops babysitting. This was the last resort when we couldn't get Gretta to sleep and we want to go see Dana's new beautiful house. Gretta said Pops fell asleep first. Plus she said she was hot.

Monday

Playing play doh together

Gretta getting a hair cut by Wendi

Isn't she cute!!! I kept thinking somehow it was going to grow long and thick, but it looks so much better shorter.

Playing at the park with Wendi and Bailey

Jackson and his favorite Aunt Gretchen. Actually I am his only Aunt.

On the plane home. Eliza enjoying her own seat.

We had a great trip!

Shots + no crying = Chuck E Cheese

I took the girls for their flu shot today. Gretta was adamant that she wasn't going to get a shot. I told her she had two choices on in the arm or one up the nose. She got the flu mist last year, and hated it. I as pretty sure she was going want it in the arm this year. After lots of winging, screaming and crying I convinced her that if she was good while she got her shot I would take her to Chuck E Cheese. She has been begging for me to take her there. I decided it would be worth it.
So I put EMLA cream on their arms and we headed off to the County Health Department. BYU health insurance doesn't cover immunizations, so I thought I was going to have to pay $25 dollars for each of their shots.
We pulled in the parking lot and had just gotten out of the car when we heard the buildings fire alarm go off. I couldn't believe it. I had my kids all ready and now we were going to have to wait. It was pretty obvious it was a fire drill, so we waited for about 10 minutes outside for the all clear. I had my kids all ready there was no way I was going to come later.
As it turns out Gretta needed 3 shots, or she would have had to have 7 at her pre-kindergarten visit. They now have more Hib so the kids need a 4th dose and her third Hep B was before 6 months of age, so she needed another one. I tried to take her to the doctor just before we left to make sure she didn't need anything and she threw such a fit that I didn't bother.
Eliza needed 3 too, but because one of them was Hep A which you need another dose 6 months later I talked them into only giving her Flu and Hep A today and we will come back for the next Hep A and Hib in 6 months. I really only like them to have 2 shots at a time. Plus unlike my Peditrician's office you can't have your shots in the arm until you are 3, so all of that EMLA wasted on her arms.
They both actually did really well with the shots. Not a peep out of one of them.
The good news is that because we don't have any insurance help with our health plan each shot was only $15, so 5 shots and $65 dollars later we were all done.
We had a quick trip to Chuck E Cheese. It isn't quite as big or as much fun as the one by us in California, so I was able to split my 100 tokens for $15 into 4 trips. Looks like we will have another bribe in the bag for another day.
Plus thanks to Suzette's suggestion I paid a dollar more and got Gretta the drink cup that is good for free refills. I see another game riding, soda drinking trip on our horizon.

PS on a sad note they both got high fevers and swollen arms after their shots. Ouch!

Sunday Afternoon

We are still really enjoying our backyard. Here are some pictures from the girls playing in the yard this evening. It is so pleasant out side right now. It is also so much fun to see them run around.

Thank you Nana!!!

My mom really spoiled us rotten this week. She sent the girls new La Di Dolls. Last year my mother-in-law gave Gretta a La Di Doll she bought at the Midway Swiss days. Last weekend when everyone was in town and we were at Swiss days I looked all over for them and couldn't find them. So my mom got on line and ordered the girls each one from Dessert Book. Who knew it could be that easy! Thanks so much! The girls love their new dolls. Gretta named them Susie and Tessie. They took them to Stake Conference today and had a enjoyed playing with them.
Thanks Nana for the two new high chairs too. They work perfectly!!!

Showing off their new high chairs.

The Utah State Fair

Saturday started out with "Gifts of the Heart" in the morning. Some of the local second hand kids stores in the area donate all of the cloths they don't buy, but people give to them to "Gifts of the Heart". The Spouses Association for the MBA students and Law students then sort and organize the cloths, and give them away for free. The MBA and Law students get for dibs, but then they open it up to the public. It is kind of like a giant kids cloths swap meet, but everything is free. It really is truly amazing. I picked up some Fall cloths for the girls, since we don't seem to having many warm cloths at our house.

Here is Gretta modeling her new favorite outfit!!! Can you believe it was free!
She liked it so much she wanted to wear it to the fair even thought it was 80 degrees outside.



Then we headed off to the Utah State Fair. I loved going to the Fair as a child even if my mom refused to take me. She said the Idaho State Fair wasn't nearly as good as the South Eastern Idaho Fair, so she refused to go. Her friend MaryAnn use to take us.
I was worried it would be crowed on a Saturday, but it was actually really nice.

First we went to the Bear Show:

They showed off a few good tricks.

Then the Juggling Show:
Here he his juggling knifes with his hands on fire balancing on the board.

Then to the alligator show:

I then finally talked Eric in to going to see the animals. The cows, pigs, sheep and goats. Eliza called them all "doggie". She was very excited and interested in all of the different "doggies".

This picture is for Aunt Allison

They had a little exhibit to show the kids how things get from the farm to the store. It was set up for little kids and Gretta really enjoyed it.

We sure did have bushels of fun. To top it all off Eric got a deep fried PB&J.

We sure had a fun time!