The Medford Temple & Rouge River

We drove all the way from Salt Lake to Medford, Oregon on Saturday.  We all slept at Tony's parents the night before and woke up super early to get on the road by six.  It took about 13 hours total to get to Medford.

Once in Medford we got the car unloaded, ate some dinner, and then went swimming.  The kids LOVE to swim and had such a good time every time we went.  Sunday we woke up and went to church.  After church we changed and had some lunch.  Then we hung out in the hotel waiting for Nate, Amy and their family to meet us at the hotel.

After the boat started

Once they came we all went to check out the Medford Temple.  It was hidden in a little neighborhood and right by a church building.  It was very small but still very pretty.  We couldn't walk on the temple grounds because it was locked up, but we did walk around on the outside.

Before the boat started

On Monday we got up, ate, dressed, check-out and then headed towards Grants Pass to go on a "speed boat" on the Rouge River.  We checked in and all went potty and then walked down to the docks to get loaded onto the boats.  We all fit in the very back row of the boat. I sat on the end then Tyler, Josh, and Tony held Megan.

Gotta love that wind.

When the boat first started going really fast it was hard to catch your breath, but we quickly figured it out and just enjoyed all the air.  Tyler and Josh liked the ride and didn't mind the wind too bad.  Megan did good at first but quickly started to not like the wind.  She was then super tired and so she just cried...screamed...cried some more.  Then she pooped too.  It was sad.  So Tony and I switched spots and I held Megan.  Luckily I was able to get Megan to fall all the way asleep while the boat was idling (the dude was talking about the spots on the river where the movie The River Wild was filmed).

Wind in your ears...weird.

Then we got to our lunch spot and we all got out and went to the big eating hall.  The food was pretty good and we enjoyed the break from the boat.  Megan slept through lunch but I had to wake her up to change her diaper before we got back on the boat.  She did MUCH better on the way back to the docks.  She enjoyed the wind and didn't cry at all.  Tyler and Josh like that the guy didn't stop and talk so much and just did tricks and made the boat splash.  They also liked that we played leader with the other boat.  Josh was sad that the other boat won and got to the docks first.  We all had such a great time.  Love the speed boats.

Back From Oregon - The Car

We got back from our trip to Oregon this evening.  We had so much fun.  I am so glad that we were able to go.  At first I wasn't super excited to go because I was so worried about the long car drives and how the kids would do in the car.
Turns out I really didn't have anything to worry about.  I got to sit in the front because I get so car sick.  Tony sat in the back with Megan most of the time.  When Margie got tired of driving then he would come up front with me and drive for a couple of hours while Margie tried to take a nap in the back with Megan.  Tony did a good job helping the kids with the snacks and games and keeping Megan entertained, that was the biggest job of all.

The kids did super good in the car almost the whole time.  Megan had the hardest time in the car.  Since she is still so young it was harder to keep her entertained during the long car rides.  But she did better then I thought she would.  She did have some diarrhea on the way there and home today so that was hard on her little bum.  She did good taking her naps in the car.  It did seem that she would always sleep around lunch time and we would have to wake her up when we would stop for lunch, but she was a good sport. She watched some of the shows, but mostly just played with her toys, ate snacks, and fussed.

Josh did much better in the car this time then just last February when we went to Disneyland.  He didn't have to stop as much to go potty and he didn't get as bored.  He watched movies, enjoyed snacks, played the InnoTab and Grandma's tablet, and took good naps.  On the way there he did get car sick with all the twists and turns and ended up throwing up three times, but didn't throw up again the whole trip (thank goodness).

Tyler did great.  He was in his own world.  He watched shows, played games on the InnoTab and tablet, colored pictures, ate snacks, and only took one nap on the way there.  He did such a good job in the car.
As soon as we got back into our car to go home from Tony's moms this evening Tyler and Josh started hitting each other...we decided we really need to get a van.  They didn't hardly fight at all in Margie's van because they didn't have to sit right by each other.  It's amazing what a little space will do.
Margie said we went over 2000 miles in the car this trip...that's a lot of driving.

Temple Trip With Some Sisters

On Monday Teagan, Julie, and I went to the Jordan River Temple to do a session.  After the session we went to The Cheesecake Factory and had lunch.  We had a great time together and it was super fun to go with my sisters.  We missed Sherri who wasn't feeling very good that day.  We will miss Teagan when she leaves next week for the MTC and then off to Japan.

Teagan's Farewell

Teagan had her farewell this past Sunday.  It is always nice to go back to my home ward and see people that I grew up with.  Teagan did a good job and it was fun to hear her talk.
After sacrament we went back to my parents house and had my cousin, Robin, take some pictures of our family under my parents big Willow tree.  Like with most family pictures not everyone was looking and smiling at the camera at the same time, but I think that we got a pretty good one.  Not sure what Tyler is looking at?
Then we got all the food ready for friends and family to enjoy.  There weren't too many people there, so that was nice.  My grandpa Willis was able to come with his wife and then we had two cousins come.  So that was fun to see them.  After hanging out there for the afternoon we went to Tony's parents for dinner.  The kids loved being able to play with cousins all day long.  My kids LOVE their cousins.  Megan has grown a fondness for her cousin Brennen (almost 9 years old).  He is super sweet with her and will play with her the whole time they are there.  He will take her outside and downstairs to play...it is so sweet.  She really loves her Brennen and loves that he will play with her so much.  I really love that he plays with her so much too, it gives me a nice break. 

Green Beans...O My

Since Tony didn't get off work until about 4:30 this morning and then had to be back at work by 2:00 pm, he just stayed at work and slept.  So the kids and I headed up to go see him and the green beans.
It was pretty rainy on the drive there but we got there without any problems.  Tony had just woken up about 45 minutes before we got there.  We all got on our hair nets and were ready to check out the beans.  The boys knew right where to get the hair nets and even Megan was wanting to get hers on to be just like her brothers.
Green bean equipment is loud.  It is really interesting to see the whole process through, from the truck full of beans to the boxes of labeled product.  The kids and I really liked our tour.  After we were done we headed out to lunch.  After lunch Tony still had some time before he had to be to work so we walked around Costco.
After dropping Tony off to work I headed back home with the kids.  Megan was just about asleep when we dropped off Tony but woke up as I was getting on to Legacy Highway.  By that time Josh and Tyler were dead asleep and even Megan's screaming didn't wake them up.  So I decided to pull over and see if I could help Megan.  She wanted her bottle and with how the seat is it is hard for her to hold it herself.  So I gave her some of her bottle while standing on the side of the road.  I decided to take a picture of my fun time...not really so fun.  She never did go back asleep and started crying hard right before our exit.  So she just had to cry until we got home.  She was happy to be home and ended up playing in the car while I vacuumed it out.  We are missing our Tony, but happy to know that he will be home to sleep tonight.

Family Firework Fun

 Yesterday we celebrated Pioneer Day with my family with a BBQ and some fireworks.  My mom was out of town on the 24th so that is why we did it then.
We started off by hanging out with the family and then we ate a yummy dinner.  After dinner we headed out to the front yard to play with Snaps and light parachutes...oh and a couple snakes.  The kids had tons of fun with like four boxes of Snaps each and the parachutes are always a big hit.

Megan was a pill the whole time.  She was fussy and only wanted me to hold her the whole night.  That is hard to do when you have two other children that need my help and needing to help get dinner ready and light the parachutes.  Teagan helped me the best she could when I asked her, but she just wanted mommy.  Pretty much the story of my life these days.  I love my baby, but it would be nice to get a break.
After fireworks I changed the kids into their pj's and then we headed home.  Megan fell asleep on the way home, but the boys were wide awake and didn't end up going to sleep for a while after we got home.  It was a fun night but I really missed Tony.  Everything is more fun when Tony is there!

Fun Times

We went to Costco to get some milk and dog food...and ended up with a new slide.  We had been eying this slide ever since they got them in.  They wanted about $115 for the slide and I just couldn't justify paying that for a slide.  But when we looked at it today we saw that they only had the floor model left and Costco will usually drop the price by 10% if you buy the floor model.  They manager said she would just charge us $100.  So Tony said he had some money saved and wanted to use it for the slide.

  It is a slide that you can hook up a hose to and the water comes down the slide.  You can also adjust the the amount of water that goes down the slide so it can be little or really high.
The kids have really enjoyed the slide so far.  Megan liked going down it just as a regular slide more then with the water.  She did go down once into the pool, but then didn't want to be wet anymore. 

This evening Tyler said that he wanted to make a fort so I said that I would move the couch table out and put some blankets over it so the kids could play in the fort.

They liked playing, but didn't play for as long as I thought they would.  I did decide to start the bath so Megan and Josh wanted to take a bath over playing in the fort.

Tyler said he wanted a different fort so he built one by the couch and then got into the bath.  I am glad that they can have fun using their imaginations and playing well with each other.  Megan is so lucky to have such fun brothers that let her get in and play with them.  Even though they didn't listen to me very good today, I can truly say that I love these little stinkers!

Megan's toe is doing much better.  Her blister popped on Saturday night and then I pulled the skin off of it yesterday.  It doesn't hurt her anymore and that makes me so happy!

Still So Sad

Megan's toe is still super sad looking.  It isn't as red any more, but it has more of a blister look to it on top.  I am still just glad that we got her meds and that she is getting better.  I hope that she starts sleeping better, it's been a rough couple of nights.

Poor Little Piggy

Well...Megan's toe is defiantly infected.  They took an x-ray of the toe while at the doctor and it's not broken.  I didn't think it was but I guess it is a standard procedure.  The doctor put Megan on an antibiotic and says that should fix it.
The doctor said she probably stepped on something or the nail was cut too short and that is how she got the infection.  Megan has really small pinky toe nails (they are super weird...she got them from Tony) so they hardly ever need to be trimmed, so I don't think that was it.
It is super sad to look at all red and swollen.  It is also really painful for Megan.  I hope that the antibiotic kicks in soon and that she'll feel better soon.  What a weird thing to have happen to Megan.  She is one tough cookie.

Tyler Lost Tooth #2

Tyler's tooth has been loose for a while now.  I thought maybe it was close to being ready to come out but when I tried to pull it out it didn't come.  So this past Sunday after church I tried again.  It wasn't coming so I told Tyler to just push it forward hard (then I did it myself while telling him what to do).  It then came forward a lot.  I thought maybe it was already out, but it was still hanging on by a tread.  So then I grabbed and pulled it out.  It bled for a few minutes but then stopped.  Tyler was really excited that the tooth fairy came and brought him a dollar bill instead of the four quarters he got last time.  He is growing up so fast.  I love him so much!