Daddy came to visit

I honestly can't remember if I've mentioned that Dave has been deployed for a while or not, but he has. He was able to take a few weeks of leave and come to Utah to spend time with us. We packed so many fun things into that time that I'm not sure if we ever slept! We were able to do a local "hike" if you can even call it that, it was more of a nature walk. It was nice to just get outdoors with the family though!

Southern Utah will always have my heart, even though it's hotter than Hades! I have so much to catch up on, this was from way back in April!! I'm excited to fill you in on how our year has gone!

Arizona ER visit

I'm going to try to tell this as vividly as I remember.
I'm also purposely leaving out things that are too private for the Internet. Those details are for my private blog ;) It was a very scary day for us!

So one of the nights we were in AZ we spent in the ER. IT ended up being about nine hours actually.

We were all fast asleep. I was in the bed, Presley in the pack-n-play across the room and Kyson was asleep on the floor. At about 1:30 AM Kyson woke up really shaky and thirsty. I got him a drink and sent him back to bed. About twenty minutes later he woke up in a sheer panic and straight up screaming! I woke up confusing and freaking out before my eyelids could even open. Presley slept through it somehow, which is crazy because she's one of the lightest sleepers in the world. I took Kyson downstairs thinking maybe his blood sugars were low (hence the shaking! Diabetes runs heavily in my family so my instincts were kicking in.) so I tried getting him to eat something but it wasn't working. Nothing was calming him down. He was screaming in pain, begging me to help him and oh how I wish I could've! Eventually my sister came downstairs and tried to help. We gave him some Tylenol, got him to lay down and tried giving him water, rubbing his back, turned on cartoons, anything to try and calm him down. Nothing was working! My BIL gave him a Priesthood blessing and as soon as it was over I knew I needed to take him to the hospital. We loaded up and took off. We arrived at Banner Baywood Medical Center just a few minutes later. Luckily for us there wasn't a single person in the waiting room. We got all checked in and because of his symptoms and how unresponsive he was the doctors met us in the room. They took one look at him and knew exactly what it was. He was stung by an Arizona Bark Scorpion. The symptoms he had were shaking profusely, loss of speech, couldn't control his tongue, fever, sweating, hallucinating, he couldn't walk or even stand and a few other things. They determined because of how bad his symptoms were he was stung at least three times.

And then it hit me, Presley was still asleep in the room it happened. SO we frantically called my BIL to get her out of that room asap! He did and immediately started tearing that room apart looking for the scorpion. Wanna know where he found it? Underneath my pillow! UGH!!

Anyways, it turns out that Anti Venom costs thousands of dollars PER DOSE! And they never know how many doses it'll take before it works. So we decided to do it the old fashioned way. Some good ole' Morphine and lots of rest!

As soon as Dave found out and knew we were ok he called his Dad in North Dakota to tell what happened. His Dad, who is a Bishop made some phone calls and got in touch with the Bishop of the area the hospital was in and asked if he could pay us a visit. He came and he brought the missionaries with him. They gave Kyson another Priesthood Blessing and went on their way. I can't even describe how much it meant to me knowing that complete strangers were so willing to come help us out and be there for us. My BIL also got his Home Teachers wife to babysit Presley and my nephew while my sister and BIL went to work. I was so thankful!

Kyson eventually started to calm down and the hallucinations stopped. He still couldn't walk and I literally had to carry him to the bathroom every time he had to pee, which was 8 times in 9 hours might I add, ha! After a few hours he was able to eat some chicken, drink some juice and lay still. They wouldn't release him until he was able to walk again. I was determined to get him walking again, so we took walks often around the ER. The nurses began to call him the Scorpion King and let me tell you, Kyson loved it!

We had so many phone calls, texts, and messages from people I hadn't heard from in months. News spreads fast in my family and it was nice that everyone was praying for him. We finally got the ok to go home and I was thrilled!! It took Kyson three days to stop shaking, walk normal, get his strength back and get back to the happy kid he was! This was literally the scariest experience for me as a mom! I am so glad we chose that hospital because the staff there treated us better than a hospital staff has ever treated us! I was 150% happy with our visit. You could just tell that the doctors and nurses loved their job and were happy to be helping us! They even called a few hours after we left to check up on him. Talk about customer service!

Arizona!!

For Spring Break this year, I took the kids to Arizona to visit my sister and her family. We had so much fun! We spent about 10 days there and spent our time eating the best food, shopping (I forgot how fun it is shopping with my sister!!), swimming, going to parks, splash pads, and even the Phoenix Zoo. We spent one day in the Emergency Room but that deserves its own post! Overall we had fun and really didn't want to leave! So every time we go to Mesa there's an entire list of restaurants we like to hit up. They have some amazing food there, I tell you what! So of course we had to indulge the entire time we were there. And of course Bahama Bucks is a must!

  I wish I had a Bahama Bucks in my back yard.

Moving on.. My sister and I went on a shopping spree, ok Presley went with us too, and seriously it was so fun just taking our time going from store to store. Browsing! Oh my gosh, it was heaven! And then she took me to the cutest home goods store and a seriously awesome antique store where I wanted to buy everything! I will be back to these two stores someday with a truck and suitcase full of cash! #takeallmymoney

Oh my goodness, I almost forgot. IKEA!! I went there for the first time and I just wish I could live there! That place is a house wife's dream land! I walked away with more than I thought I would buy and still drool over my purchases to this day! Again, #takeallmymoney

We took the kids to a splash pad/park one day and other then Presley getting into a fight with a brick wall, they had a blast! And I got to tan my whiter than snow legs for a few hours!

Another day we spent at the Phoenix Zoo. Everyone but Kyson had the best time haha. He was in the worst mood and I still have no idea why! But we had fun anyways. It was all of our first time to the Phoenix Zoo and it did not disappoint! I LOVE seeing the flamingos and the elephants. They've always been my favorite but I must say, the giraffe exhibit they have is pretty amazing!

Cousins!!

I love going to Arizona but that dang summer heat will keep me from ever living there! It's fun to visit though!

My 29th birthday

I'm officially in my last year of my twenties!! As of February anyways, ha!

I decided to spend it with my best friend in northern Utah and it was just the little getaway I needed! We went shopping, lots of shopping, ate Cheesecake Factory and other good food, and just enjoyed hanging out. It's been forever since we've seen each other so it was so nice just having girl talk!

On my actual birthday we met up with both of my brothers and my SIL and went to my first ever Utah Jazz game! It was a blast but only got a few pictures!

We had so much fun! I can't believe how rowdy those basketball games are! Thanks for a great birthday Christa!

New Years Day

I am really bad at this whole blogging thing.. I just constantly forget to keep up with it! So let's go way back to New Years Day and how we spent it shooting lots of guns! 

Since we spent Christmas up in North Dakota with a bunch of family we spent a lot of the time outdoors. A couple family members got guns for Christmas so everyone was dying to get out and try them out. Between the three families out there, there was around 10-15 different guns to shoot. It was so fun! I shot multiple guns that I've never shot before, including a sniper rifle that had a good kick! Dave laughed at me because every time I shot it I screamed haha it was SO loud!

Presley fell asleep on the drive out there and slept in the truck the entire time we were out there (a couple of hours!). We had a movie playing in the truck so the kids would go inside to thaw out and keep entertained. It was a great setup! Kyson was able to shoot a real gun for the first time and he loved it! It was a great experience for him and for Dave! He actually shot a few different guns.

Our newest gun is this shot gun and it was my favorite! It's so fun to shoot!

This day was so fun! It was freezing cold but such a good day! I seriously love going out shooting and love that I'm a part of a red neck family ha!

New York day 2

We were originally going to spend day two down in Washington DC but decided since we loved NYC so much we wanted to spend more time there. This day wasn't as busy as day one. We spent the whole day just wandering around not really doing anything specific. We drove up to Central Park where we planned on going Ice Skating but we couldn't find any parking and we just weren't up for walking a long distance in such cold weather. We're giant party poopers. Ha! We kind of purposely got lost in Upper Manhattan and it was so much fun to just see life in Manhattan! We made our way down to the Empire State Building and Times Square where we decided to get out of the warm car and walk around, do some shopping, ate some more food and just enjoy the city. It was Valentine's Day so all the restaurants were crazy busy! We decided on some brickoven style pizza right in Time's Square and holy crap! It was the best pizza I've ever had! The wait time was well worth it! Dave and I ate an entire pizza plus garlic knots in about 10 minutes hahaha It was that good!

We kept walking around and found a big group of people starring up, I usually try to avoid big crowds like that but we were intrigued so we went and joined and realized that they were all on the jumbo screen in the middle of Time's Square so we had to take a picture of it.

the rest of the day was spent getting lost in downtown Manhattan, shopping our bums off and also freezing our bums off! It was the best way to see NYC, although I'd much rather visit during the warmer months next time! I can't wait to go back!

New York, New York

I can't believe it's already been a month since I was walking around NYC! I flew out to New Jersey to visit Dave for a few days while he was there for combat training. Since it was only an hour from NYC we spent a couple days playing tourists in the Big Apple. You guys, that city is insane!!! I still can't believe just how dense the city is. Every inch of Manhattan Island is being used in some way or another, whether it's a building, a street, or a bridge. I swear there is zero negative space! Everybody kept saying how dirty of a city it is, but growing up close to Las Vegas I beg to differ. Vegas is way worse! In my opinion :)

Anyways, as soon as we got there we parked the car in the first parking garage we came across that was remotely close to Ground Zero. We paid $40 for an hour of parking! Yikes! We went and walked around Ground Zero and let me tell you, it was such an emotional, spiritual experience. It was heartbreaking standing where so many lives were lost! Because it was so cold during the few days we were there (I'm talking a high of 13 degrees with a wind chill of -11!) we walked across the street to a shopping mall just so we could warm up. We quickly decided since it was so cold that we'd just drive everywhere instead of walk because we're babies about freezing cold weather! We got back to the warm car and drove around looking at sights and made our way to the ferry for the Statue of Liberty.

Of course we needed to try some New York style pizza so we found the closest pizza parlor we could find since we were starving! We walked in and realized it was like a fancy style pizza parlor. But because we didn't want to go back out in the cold we decided to stay and give it a try. Not a minute after being served bread and oil Dave knocked the bowl of oil on the floor and it shattered. Oil went everywhere!! You could see the employees killing us with their eyes. It wasn't very good bread anyways haha. The pizza however, was amazing! We walked back to our car and noticed we got our first parking ticket. $65!!! So stupid. 

Not the best picture. It was taken through a dirty window on the ferry. Ha!

The rest of the day was spent shopping, shopping and more shopping! Seriously shopping in NYC is a dream! Evry store out there is in New York so the selection is never ending! A lot of the day was also spent just walking/driving around taking it all in. I won't even mention how many times we got lost ;)

Day 2 coming up next!