Utah Trip

The last week of March Allison and I flew to Utah. Our excuse for going was to see my brother Neal as Aladdin in his school play. It was such a fun performance! I'm so glad I got to be there.
We spent most our time playing with Alicia and Mom, going shopping, to the zoo, the Ogden Tree Museum, to visit good friends, and lots lots more. We even managed to keep Dad from doing tax work and Colleen and Neal from their homework (it wasn't so hard).
Other news, Allison had her 2nd birthday. I was pretty sure we had an overnight transition into the "Terrible Twos" but then I realized it was only a few days of not feeling well. Phew! Ever since her birthday she's been singing "Happy Birthday to Allison". We got to go to Tucson to watch General Conference and celebrate her b-day. Ivan showed us his amazing skills (really amazing, actually) on his rip stick and we played a few good games of Risk (yes, games plural).

The last several months we have really been loving Allison's age and stage. She is getting so fun! Erik and Alli like to wrestle every night when he gets home from work. It consists mostly of screaming and hiding than actual wrestling (she is such a girl). She has the cutest little sing-songy voice and is so happy and good-natured -- except when she’s not! At Christmas I moved the glider/rocker into her room to make room for the tree. We ended up leaving it there because she'll finally let me sit and rock her to sleep, or read to her on my lap. Great reward after 18 months of no cuddliness. We love our Allison!

I just started watching a little boy (2 ½ yrs old) a few hours each day. We've only been doing it for 2 weeks but it is so much fun! He calls himself Sean-Sean (he always says it twice). He is very obedient and sweet and has such an adorable little face! Aside from the typical sharing problems (I hear the word "Mine!" a million times a day) these two are getting to be really good friends.

As for Erik, he’s a busy man these days. He’s now almost halfway into his first project. Initially, there were several delays with permits and bad weather, but the last few weeks things have picked up and he’s back on track. We just hope there’s a few weeks between when the baby comes and when the project ends

Busy busy busy

We've had a few busy weeks in our family. Allison was sick with croup for a whole week (everyone we know has been sick around here). As soon as she was better she ate what looked like a pill off the ground at Ross clothing store. 4 hours later she began throwing up. Since we couldn't identify what it was, Poison Control told me to take her to the ER. She threw up 2 more times, but all her tests were normal. Then, the doctor said they needed to watch her overnight because some drugs don’t show up until several hours later. Just as we were getting used to that idea we were told they had no rooms for us AND we needed a facility with an ICU. So they wanted to move us to the Phoenix Children’s hospital. The story gets better. Just in case something big happened on our way to Phoenix, Allison had to be transported by ambulance. Mamma mia!!

So we spent the remainder of the night being woken every hour so Allison could get her finger pricked and a flashlight shined in her eyes and I don’t remember what else. In the morning we got to pay our second copay in 16 hours. Allison’s highlight: when mom left her with the nurse to go pay the bill, she got all-you-can-eat Froot Loops and watched cartoons on TV (two things that never happen - we don't have cable). Allison left the ICU “the picture of health”, for which, despite my complaining, we really are grateful.

2 days later I came down with the cursed week-long sickness, and I’m telling you this thing is “no bueno”. Now that it’s finally over we can resume normal life. Sounds boring but I’m okay with it.