Happy, Happy Birthday, Lily Dear!

Sunday was Lily's birthday. She's FOUR!!! Can you believe it? I can't. Can you believe how cute she is? I can. Our kids are the cutest EVER.

Anyway, I always go overboard with parties. Lily's fourth was no exception. I made the cake using a cool pan my dad gave me--it is a Betty Crocker Bake 'n Fill, and it lets you fill your cake with different fillings: Ice cream, fruit and whipped cream, or in the case of the turtle, gooey green turtle guts made of pudding. (Maybe I should've made an armadillo...) We didn't get a picture of the middle because we gobbled the cake too fast! You'll have to use your imagination and remember I have the world's largest supply of green food coloring and I'm not afraid to mix it. Here are a couple of outside views of the cake: (Cute, huh?)











If you ever want to throw a party, I recommend doing so for a girl like Lily. She is so enthusiastic about EVERYTHING! I could have wrapped up a paper-towel roll and she would have shrieked with delight when she opened it. We got her "real" presents, though. The first was a DVD. Rebecca handed it to her and she said, in a nonchalant voice, "What kind of movie did you get for me?" It was hilarious. She was, predictably, thrilled with what it was, (even though she's never seen or heard of it...)

"HUUHhiheeeaawhh" I love this DVD!"

Other hits included an "America shirt!" I picked up at Wal-Mart for $2.88, (bargain shopping! Although Dale was annoyed because there was no AK or HI on it...) a cute "Princess GAME?!?", and a "WHINOCERWOUS WEBKINZ?!?" that Rebecca picked out for her. It's a rhino, it's retired, and it's really cute. I suggested the name, "Plasty", and she thought that was great, too! (take 10 points if you laughed. Minus 5 if you rolled your eyes.)

The other kids got 3' gummy snakes. Carb-a-licious!
(t0 the tune of 160 grams/snake!)

"You knew what I was when you picked me up."

Happy, Happy Birthday, Children, dear! Happy days will come to you all year! If I had a wish, then it would be...a Happy, Happy birthday to you from me!

(She love's the "Children" b-day song. It's a good thing I led the music in Primary yesterday--she would have had a meltdown if they would've had the audacity to sing, "You've had a birthday, shout HURRAY! She wouldn't even let us sing, "Happy Birthday" to her. We did our parade to a primary song. It works!)

'till next time, party fans, when we blow out five!

Kum By YA (or however you spell it!)

Look at my girl! She's finally off to diabetes camp. I can hardly believe it. She is way excited/nervous, and so am I. She's going to do great, though. Me? We'll just have to wait and see. We've planned plenty of hard-to-count-but-delicious-to-eat snacks to chow on while she's gone. Check out the sidebar for the week's schedule and you can play along, too! (Notice they each have multiple carb ingredients, some of which aren't measured.)

I dropped her off yesterday morning after sleeping in until 9:30 am (my flight arrived from SLC at 12:00; I didn't get in bed till after 2:00), and giving the kiddos their mini ketchup bottles (which they loved, by the way) and trinkets. By the time that was done, I realized that Sarah had to be to diabetes camp at 11:00, and that I had neither unpacked or repacked the suitcase. (unpacked my junk, repacked hers.) I frantically kicked all the little ones out (Go watch a movie!) and had Sarah and Dale help me go through her checklist. We hustled, but it took us until 11:30 to leave the house. Oh, well, the bus wasn't leaving until 1:00, so I figured we'd be okay.

Sarah spent much of the time on the way over to camp assuring me that it was okay to miss church to go to diabetes camp. I think she's heard one too many stories about soccer games on the sabbath in primary. We obviously need to have the classic "A chronic illness is not the same thing as baseball" chat as soon as she gets home! ;)

We finally arrived and checked in. We handed in all of her medical logs, medications, etc, got her picture taken, spoke with a nurse, etc. etc., and then they gave her a water bottle with holder. (Humalog donated them. Do you know what Humalog is? If so, take ten points) Then we mostly stood around and waited for the bus. Sarah was nervous and kept gnawing on her nails. I looked at her water bottle bag and realized it was sopping wet! Her bottle was leaking. I asked the people if they had an extra, which they didn't. The Humalog rep even searched her car, but got nothin'. I told Sarah we'd have to use hers from home, and since it is green it would be easier to keep track of, anyway. She agreed, but I'm pretty sure it was only because her green one had lemonade in it. (She really didn't want to be different from the other kids and have a colored bottle that she could actually tell apart from her friends'....) We dug it out of the van, only to discover it had been melted in the dishwasher and had tiny holes at the top that lemonade would drip out of whenever she took a sip. Strike two! We walked back to the van a third time and I told her there had to be a water bottle in there somewhere. She found one, in blue. It was Logan's, but I told her she could have it. She seemed really reluctant to take her brother's bottle until I suggested that I pour her lemonade into it. She then quickly agreed before I could change my mind! Anyway, I wish I was going to camp because those water bottle holders are very cool!

There are 46 campers going this year, 19 of which are girls. One of the girls saw Sarah's shirt (which says: "Hand over the cupcakes and no one gets hurt" on it) and said she had one kind of like it. She also has one that says, "I love Carbs". Sarah was super jealous.

We met a girl named Megan who is 12 and has been diabetic for 4 years. She's not pumping yet because her family can't afford it. She just moved here from Delta a couple of weeks ago. Then a truck drove into her apartment so now she's living in the Spenard Motel with her brother and mom. Her mom couldn't bring her to camp, so a neighbor brought her in. She also had taken her shopping the day before and it was the first time that Megan had ever been shopping for herself. It was sort of depressing, but the girl is really nice. She and Sarah discussed how their blood sugar is better at school, and that Sarah loves Crystal Light. Megan said she didn't like it, but had only tried the cherry. Sarah said the lemonade was the best, and raspberry ice was pretty good, too. I'm going to bring Megan some Crystal Light packets when I come pick Sarah up on Friday so she can try some new flavors.

Anyway, before long it was time for Sarah to go! She got on the bus and sat right next to Megan. I think she's going to have a great time! And so are we. (May I draw your attention to the snack schedule on the right?)

Have fun, Sarah, and don't get too skeeter bit! (Impossible. You and all your fellow campers are naturally too sweet! )

SLC, the Big City!

For those who have been paying attention, it has been one month, two weeks, and one day since I have updated my blog. That would be because the day after my parents left town after Rebecca's baptism, our computer got fried. We finally got a new computer, two days before I left for Salt Lake City. So I'm just a little behind. There is a TON of blogging that should've/would've/could've been done during that time. After much debate with myself, I've decided to start with the most recent event in my life: the Big Trip to the Big SLC, and work backwards to cover my parents trip to Alaksa and Rebecca's baptism.

So, here we go. I took the red-eye out of Anchorage and flew directly to SLC. The baby slept awesome. I slept for about 17.34 minutes. Mostly this was due to the fact that El is such a light sleeper that if I even shift one half a centimeter she wakes up and gives the pathetic, "I was fast asleep and now you woke me up!" whimper, which can escalate into full out wailing if I complete the 2 centimeter move. If she gets to the wailing stage, I can't bank on her falling back to sleep, so I was forced to suffer through a 5 hour flight without moving, (or by the end feeling) my arm, neck, legs, or mouth. Okay, I could move my mouth. It wasn't too awful, though. Last time I flew with an infant she (Lily) was puking the whole way. That's when I learned that the best puke catcher is one of those vinyl bibs that fold up from the bottom to prevent stray food from falling on the floor. It works really well to catch projectile vomit as well, just in case you were wondering. Babies don't know how to aim for the Ziploc (which I learned about using in the car because of a special I watched on bullemia), so if you're ever in that situation with an infant, plan for the bib action. It holds about 4 cups, plenty for a baby with the flu.

Anyway, with that mental picture in your head, (you're welcome) I'll move on. I arrived in SLC, and after punting my baby, carseat, stroller, backpack, and carry-on luggage back and forth the airport trying to figure out the shuttle, I arrived at the Marriott. They were kind enough to let me check in at about 10:00 local time. I dove into the plush linens and fell fast asleep for about 2 hours. Luckily, El did as well!

About noon I hopped in the shower. Quarter to one Becca showed up!! YAY!! It was SO good to see her. We dinked around the hotel and then decided we needed to find some shoes. So we took off for Gateway Mall. I wanted to go to the ZCMI mall, but I was informed that it no longer exists. Then I found out it did. Then I wasn't sure if it did or it didn't. I'm still confused. Regardless, we walked about four blocks to Gateway and managed to find socks for Elliotte, shoes for Bec, and shoes for me. Bec was looking for a pair to wear for one day only, since we couldn't wear sandals in Elder Bednar's office and that's all they wear in Hawaii. I was looking for any cute pair to spend my money on. I found some. Dad would not like them. They are crayon green with little bows on them. They're going to look so cute with my new skirt. I also bought a necklace for $5, which was "Tree's pick of the day." (Tree was the name of the girl working at Payless. It was, I promise! I did not ask her if she was dating Apple, but I guess I should have!)

After our shopping, we relaxed in the hotel until Mom and Dad arrived. They finally made it! It was so good to see them! I walked to their hotel room, where they had a way better view. Here's what it looked like out their window:
Nice, huh? Not a bad picture, considering it was through smudged glass. I was grateful for the view, because this is what was going on directly in front of their room:


(In other words, when you go visit next summer, don't bother to stay at the Marriott for the temple view. You'll be looking at a new mall instead.)

We hung out until Clay and Amy arrived, and then we hung out some more. Then it was time for Dad to pick up Jane at the airport. Then we hung out even more. It was really fun. We had basketball going in one room, and room service drama in the other. Joseph really wanted to do the ordering, so he did! The food arrived and they had the most adorable mini bottles of ketchup I have ever seen. I managed to collect five before I left town to take to my ketchup lovers at home--four kids and Dale. I didn't get one because ketchup is disgusting.

Emma drew a lovely picture of the temple. It was very pretty, and she drew tulips and something else on the picture for planted flowers. I would tell you what they were, but as I told her, I'm not very good at identifying flowers. They were very lovely, though, whatever they were. She gave her picture to Elder Bednar, and he thought it was great.

Grandpa arrived, and shortly after we went to bed. The next day was crazy and intense, so I'll blog it separately tomorrow. Stay tuned...