You've had a birthday, shout Hooray!

We were lucky enough to celebrate Audrey's first birthday a couple of weeks ago with Kenlynne's family. Once again, my camera was left behind, but Tessa was kind enough to take some pics for me. Here is some visual documentation of the happy event.

Are all these for me? (Please don't comment on Tysen's fabulous non-matching outfit and kool-aid moustache)

Let's see, do I pull here?

There it goes!

So that's what was in there!

Grandma Day sent a super fun puzzle that makes noise (noise is Audrey's favorite thing, if there's not enough in the house, she will take it upon herself to compensate for it personally)

Why didn't we start with this?

This isn't from her birthday, but it's a cute pic of her playing on the treadmill at Kenlynne's. The treadmill is her favorite toy. And how stinkin cute is that sweater with the sparkly skirt?! Gotta love Target!

Happy Birthday Baby Girl!

Is that a gun in your pocket, or are you just happy to see me?

I would just like to take this opportunity to thank whoever placed the GINORMOUS fake PENIS in our driveway this morning. We really had quite a good chuckle finding it when we came home from church today.

No crocodiles or rhinoceroses I only like hippopotamuses

A couple of my coworkers recently introduced me to this song. I hate Christmas music, but I found this amusing the first time I heard it. Naturally some techy posted a video for it on you tube which I hijacked.

What have you done for me lately?

I got this tag from Janey. Thanks Janey! Keep blogging! And I thought I would let you all know I'm trying a new feature with my blog. That phraseology made it sound cool, but it's really not that interesting. I just decided that all of my blog titles will be lines from songs or movies. Anyone pick up Janet Jackson on this one? So if you know the artist or movie in the future, leave it in a comment so I know you're reading.

I don't expect anyone to be this interested in my life so feel free to pass on reading it. Rules are: Anything you have done has to be in bold. How much have you done?

1. Started your own blog - um, duh

2. Slept under the stars - I think I have, on the trampoline in the backyard growing up, but my admission of this in no way means I like to camp.

3. Played in a band - no musical bones in this body

4. Visited Hawaii

5. Watched a meteor shower - I'm a night owl, this happens at night

6. Given more than you can afford to charity - does 10% tithing plus fast offerings count?

7. Been to Disneyland - is it pathetic that the answer is no on this one?

8. Climbed a mountain - contrary to popular belief I actually did go to girls camp one year

9. Held a Praying Mantis - eww

10. Sang a solo - I would like to take this opportunity to apologize to anyone who attended my sister's mission farewell. She hated me and singing was my punishment, I think.

11. Bungee jumped

12. Visited Paris

13. Watched a lightning storm at sea

14. Taught yourself an art from scratch

15. Adopted a child

16. Had food poisoning - I get food poisoning like twice a year - I have weak bowels (was that TMI?)

17. Been to the Statue of Liberty

18. Grown your own vegetables

19. Seen the Mona Lisa in France

20. Slept on an train

21. Had a pillow fight - jr high slumber parties ring any bells?

22. Hitch hiked

23. Taken a sick day when you’re not ill - everyone should do this, especially if you're going to lose the sick time if you don't take it

24. Built a snow fort - the winter I was 9 it snowed so much and the maintenance guys who plowed our driveway piled it all up at the end and my friends and I dug tunnels and stuff in it. It was awesome!

25. Held a lamb - I have kids and we've been to the petting zoo

26. Gone skinny dipping - don't ask, don't tell

27. Run a Marathon - are you kidding me right now? have you seen my midsection? not conducive to that kind of rigorous activity

28. Ridden in a gondola in Venice

29. Seen a total eclipse

30. Watched a sunrise or sunset - is this a trick question? Unless you live under a rock, you've seen one of these.

31. Hit a home run - how about kicked a home run? I was quite a kickball player in elem school. These thighs were good for something once.

32. Been on a cruise

33. Seen Niagara Falls in person

34. Visited the birthplace of your ancestors - If Draper, Utah counts then yeah

35. Seen an Amish community

36. Taught yourself a new language - I can barely speak English

37. Had enough money to be truly satisfied - does anyone?

38. Seen the Leaning Tower of Pisa in person

39. Gone rock climbing

40. Seen Michelangelo’s David

41. Sung karaoke

42. Seen Old Faithful geyser erupt

43. Bought a stranger a meal at a restaurant - does it count that I ran into the missionaries a few weeks back at Little Caesars and paid for their pizza before they had a chance?

44. Visited Africa - um, no thanks

45. Walked on a beach by moonlight - not by moonlight, but at sunset - it was beautiful!

46. Been transported in an ambulance

47. Had your portrait painted

48. Gone deep sea fishing

49. Seen the Sistine Chapel in person

50. Been to the top of the Eiffel Tower in Paris

51. Gone scuba diving or snorkeling

52. Kissed in the rain

53. Played in the mud - surprising, in know

54. Gone to a drive-in theater - please don't ask for details

55. Been in a movie

56. Visited the Great Wall of China

57. Started a business

58. Taken a martial arts class

59. Visited Russia

60. Served at a soup kitchen

61. Sold Girl Scout Cookies - I've bought a lot of them - love those thin mints

62. Gone whale watching

63. Got flowers for no reason - I had a friend in HS who always used to give me flowers - he was always so sweet to me. Thanks, Josh!

64. Donated blood, platelets or plasma - let's not get into the details on this one

65. Gone sky diving

66. Visited a Nazi Concentration Camp

67. Bounced a check - it wasn't my fault, I swear!

68. Flown in a helicopter

69. Saved a favorite childhood toy - or 50 childhood toys? you should see my garage. Anyone need any Barbies circa 1986? Some are missing body parts, but I find that irrelevant.

70. Visited the Lincoln Memorial - DC was my favorite trip I've ever been on - besides my honeymoon

71. Eaten Caviar - eww

72. Tied a quilt - more than I can count

73. Stood in Times Square

74. Toured the Everglades

75. Been fired from a job - let's not talk about it

76. Seen the Changing of the Guards in London

77. Broken a bone - fell from a heelstretch liberty stunt cheering my sr year and broke my wrist

78. Been on a speeding motorcycle - thanks, Uncle George - I'm glad I'm alive

79. Seen the Grand Canyon in person - surprisingly, I saw it when I was a kid. I live in AZ, perhaps we should make a jaunt

80. Published a book

81. Visited the Vatican

82. Bought a brand new car

83. Walked in Jerusalem

84. Had your picture in the newspaper - front page of the Manti Messenger, not that it's much to brag about

85. Read the entire Bible - not the whole thing, but I think I read the whole Old Testament. I totally went to seminary my Freshman year

86. Visited the White House - again, DC is AWESOME

87. Killed and prepared an animal for eating - eww

88. Had chickenpox - sidenote story: my mom was taking me to the dr when I had chickenpox (I was 3) and the truck got a flat tire and I didn't have shoes on so mom was carrying me down the freeway. Some really scary guy with a huge nasty beard and a 70's style van with curtains in the back windows pulled over and was insisting we get in his van and my mom was FREAKING OUT. Luckily, a friend of hers drove by and saw us and picked us up. It was totally straight out of a Lifetime movie.

89. Saved someone’s life - I've GIVEN 2 people their lives, I think that should count for something

90. Sat on a jury

91. Met someone famous

92. Joined a book club - not much of a reader

93. Lost a loved one - grandparents

94. Had a baby - TWICE

95. Seen the Alamo in person

96. Swam in the Great Salt Lake - eww

97. Been involved in a law suit - I rear-ended some lady 2 weeks after I got my license going like 2 miles per hour and she tried to sue me/my parents. It was a joke. I also had to testify during proceedings involving a former boss and one of his clients.

98. Owned a cell phone - does anyone not?

99. Been stung by a bee - lucky for me, I'm not allergic

100. Visited Italy

Now I tag Candice (because she thinks she's not cool enough for me to tag her), Joanna (because she hates being tagged and probably won't do it), and Jenn (because it's been too long since she updated her blog.

Doctor, doctor give me the news

Warning: This is a long one.

Aside from a fantastic Thanksgiving, the rest of the last week has been pretty horrendous. Last Tuesday, as I was getting ready for work, Tysen came in and said "I itch". I was like "what do you mean you itch". It's a weird complaint, right? He said is back itched and I pulled up his shirt, saw nothing, and told him to get his backpack ready for school. I dropped him off at school, then Audrey at the babysitter's, and headed off to work.

About 15 minutes after I walked into work my phone rang. Sure enough, it was the school nurse telling me to come pick up Tysen because he had hives. HIVES!!! Now, here I am thinking, oh great, they must think I'm the mother of the year for sending my kid to school with hives. So I leave work and go to the school (where I had just been 30 minutes earlier dropping him off).

Now, I had never seen hives before. I imagined some small, possibly 1/4 to 1/2 inch diameter reddish bumps on the skin. Not so much. They were HUGE!!! Lesson #1: hives are irregular in shape and can vary in size as well. So it's true what they say, you do learn something new every day. He had a reasonably sized hive on his back and the nurse said it was probably an allergic reaction and to give him Benadryl and call the doctor.

I called the doctor and scheduled an appointment for an hour later. I was at Basha's getting gas and needed to pick up a few things to Thanksgiving anyway, so I decided to run in and get those items rather than go home for a few minutes before heading to the doctor. By the time we got out of the store, his hives were completely gone. Whaaa? So I called the doctor's office back and cancelled the appointment since they were gone. I ran some errands, picked up some Benadryl, and finally made it home.

I gave him the medicine and laid down on the sofa while he watched cartoons. Of course, I fell asleep. He woke me up a while later and said his back itched again. I lifted up his shirt and there were hives EVERYWHERE!!! Lesson #2: hives can, and do, come and go without warning. I took a couple of pictures with my phone this time in case I decided to take him to the doctor later so I would have some evidence if they went away again. Like I said, this pic was taken with my phone so it's not the best photo in the world. Gross, right?

Various parts of his body looked like that off and on from Tuesday until Friday. We did everything we could to eliminate his itching. Lesson #3: a lukewarm bath with 1/2 cup cornstarch and 1/2 cup backing soda will help itchy skin - Aveeno also makes an oatmeal bath treatment which is helpful - milk of magnesia (aka Mylanta) can be rubbed on to cool the skin and alleviate itchiness and Calamine lotion is worth it's weight in gold. Lesson #4: 2 days before Thanksgiving Wal-Mart will be out of cornstarch because of prepared gravy-makers.

We did a decent job of keeping the itching at bay and pumped his poor system full of Benadryl every 4 hours. I did the Black Friday shopping and called from Kohl's as soon as the doctor's office opened to schedule an appointment. Toby took him to the doctor and he basically told us what we already knew, that he probably had an allergic reaction to a cough medicine we had given him the weekend before and it would run it's course, probably in a matter of 5-7 days, but could possibly last up to 4 weeks.

FOUR WEEKS?!?!?!? I can't take 4 weeks of this. The doctor gave Toby samples of the allergy medication Allegra to use instead of Benadryl to see if that would be more effective. And it really was more effective at keeping the hives away. HOWEVER, every time Tysen took the Allegra, he would start throwing up a few hours later (which is always awesome at 2 in the morning and so much fun when he doesn't make it to the toilet). Lesson #5: you can be allergic to an allergy medication. Seems ironic, doesn't it.

The doctor said we could also use Claritin or Zyrtec if we ran out of the Allegra samples so Toby went and picked up some of both today (the ox, was in the mire, OK? I know it's Sunday and we shouldn't be buying things). We gave him the Zyrtec (because it was the more expensive, which should mean it's a better product, right?) and, knock on wood, he's been fine ever since. No hives, no vomiting, no stomach aches, no itching. And hopefully I'm done learning lessons on this one. Halle-freaking-lujia!!!

The giving of thanks

We had a nice Thanksgiving this year. Last year was our first Thanksgiving in Arizona and we were here with our little family all alone since I was too prego to travel (refer to horribly embarrassing picture below). So we spent Thanksgiving last year at the zoo before indulging in a meal covered in gravy. We decided that would become our new family tradition and it's a great one!

Thanksgiving 2007 Emily, Tysen, unborn Audrey, and zebras

We went to the zoo on Thursday morning and there was this mysterious liquid substance falling from the sky. We only see this phenomenon a few times each year so it's a little bit of a novelty each time it happens. When we got to the zoo it was just stopping. By the time we had been there about 20 minutes the clouds broke and there was no rain the rest of the day. It was BEAUTIFUL!!!

Our human GPS system (aka Tysen) enjoyed holding the map and telling us which way we needed to go to see the next exhibit more than he liked seeing the animals themselves. He did enjoy petting the shark and stingrays though and he was anxious to see the jaguar for some reason. He liked brushing the goats in the petting zoo and walking with the wallabies and having the monkeys scamper right in front of him in the monkey village. He had a great time.

It was Audrey's first trip to the zoo and like the great mother that I am, I forgot to bring my camera. Luckily for me (I think) she could not have cared less about any of it and was just happy to ride around in her stroller for 3 hours and eat crackers. She such an easygoing child, it amazes me. The only real reaction she had to anything was to the goats in the petting zoo. Toby put her right up next to one of the goats and she just looked at it disgustedly and looked back at Toby. He tried to put her hand on it and she yelled at him. She wasn't scared, she just didn't want any part of it. Children develop their own personalities so early in life.

My other child (Toby) was as happy as a clam. He acts like a kid every time we go to the zoo. He LOVES the zoo. It's so funny. He also enjoyed the shark and stingrays. It's not a trip to the zoo unless Toby gets to see EVERY animal there and he did. He especially likes the orangutans and they have a baby one here which is about the most adorable thing you've ever seen. We saw it last year too. and I got a pretty cute photo of the little guy.
After the zoo, we ran home and finished up the stuffing, sweet potatoes, and green bean casserole. We took all the hot food and the pies I made the day before over to Kenlynne's house and had a fantastic smoked turkey dinner. We, as is the tradition, ate too much and then each person got to participate in their pastime of choice, napping, playing games, or watching football. It was such a nice, relaxing day and wonderful to spend the whole day with my hubby and kids. Those days can be hard to come by so I was grateful to have it!

We had adequately respected "the bird" so we put our Christmas tree up on Friday. We went with silver and red this year. We have a funky red star that is kinda tacky but I love it! We have a staircase banister you can see from our living room where we draped pine-esque garland and hung the stockings. We put up the outside lights on Saturday and I'm happy to announce no one died in the process. It was touch and go for a while there. The only casualty was one of our roof tiles.

I'm so proud of how festive our house looks! It was so much fun decorating a new house this year! It's actually the first time we've ever put up outside lights. I would post pictures, but our little camera that could is going the way of the earth after serving us well for 6 long years. Santa is having a new one delivered via UPS in 7-9 business days, though so I'll take some pics then. Hope everyone had a happy Thanksgiving!