California Trip

We left last Monday for Anaheim and drove the whole way in one day. With a bit of junk food and a DVD player, the drive was pretty good.

We stayed at a hotel called Hilton Homewood Suites. It was about a mile from Disneyland. With 4 kids, we needed a larger hotel room than we've had in the past. We had two bedrooms, a bathroom, living room, and kitchen. We loved the hotel.

The first night after we went to bed, our bed started moving. Dan said, "Caleb, stop boucing on our bed." When he realized Caleb was asleep, he started saying, "Rachel, stop it!". After a few seconds he realized it wasn't the kids. It was an earthquake. I guess it was a 5.7. Nobody in California even gives it a second thought. But we aren't quite as used to earthquakes. Our kids were disappointed that they slept through it.

We got up and went to Disneyland on Tuesday. Because of my leg issues, I rented an electric wheelchair. My leg is doing very well, and I am walking very well. But I am still not able to walk around and stand in line all day. The good thing was that it got us on most of the rides much faster than usual. We were able to wait ten minutes for one ride that had a 65 minute wait. I would much rather have a normal leg though. We stayed clear until the fireworks ended at about 10:00. Anna and Alex were very tired and crabby by the time we got back to our hotel. We had a lot of fun. Next time we go, we'll go in January when its not so crowded. Anna loved "Its a small world". Alex's favorite was "Dumbo". Rachel loved "Splash Mountain". I'm not sure what Caleb's favorite was.

On Wednesday, we got up and went to the Wild Animal Park in San Diego. The kids especially liked the petting zoo.

Thursday, we went on a harbor tour in San Diego. The kids liked it at first, but were a little bored by the end of the ride. If we do this again, we'll try to go during whale watching season, so its a little more exciting.

We spent the rest of the day Thursday and Friday at the beach. We rented a little motel room on the beach. The location was perfect. We were able to walk to the beach from our room. The room was a little cramped, but it was way worth it for the location.

When we first saw the ocean, Alex said, "Mom, its too big for me!". He was a bit scared. He went in the water a little bit, but mostly played in the sand. The older three kids had a blast in the water. Rachel especially.

On Friday we rented a couple of boogie boards (or body boards). Rachel really took to it. She spent hours boarding in the waves. She is quite an adventurer. It didn't bother her if a wave washed over her head. Caleb liked it until he got water up his nose. I thought it was fun too. However, I don't really like waves washing over my head either. I guess I'm a chicken. So Rachel and Dan spent the most time on the boards. I thought it was funny when I was boarding with Rachel. She was instructing me, and saying things like, "Mom, you gotta catch that wave". I would highly recommed renting some boards, if your kids are old enough and adventurous enough.

The drive home was another all-in-one-day drive. It was pretty good until we hit road construction in Lehi. Then we inched along for a half an hour. We made it home, and had a great trip.

My sister Leslie keeps asking me when I'm gonna update my blog with the trip pics. So, here it is Leslie. :)

It was D day

Or doctor day. I had two appointments today.
The first one was with a doctor and University of Utah. I should have just skipped this appointment. First, he asked me if I had an eating disorder because I am thin. I don't! I love food. Then he told me that I was trying to help the weak leg when he was testing my reflexes in that knee. No I wasn't!! Why would I do that? Then came the diagnosis: my brain just forgot how to work my leg. He tried to explain it in technical terms, but he really didn't know what he was talking about.
After that lovely appointment, I met Dan for lunch. I always love to eat lunch with him. That was the highlight of my day.
Then I went back to the neurologist who sent me to the neurosurgeon. My regular dr said I should follow up with him. The neurologist thought the other doctor's explanation was absurd. He said, "You have a spinal lesion at L4". This caused the nerve damage to your leg. There's no damage still occurring, so there's nothing to fix. Work hard in PT to get your leg strength back.
So, back to PT I go.
That's it for the run-around. Hopefully in a few months I'll be running around. :)

Memorial Weekend

We spent a day at Dan's uncle's cabin with some of Dan's family. It is up near the Uintahs.

We roasted marshmallows, stayed up late, got dirty, played in the stream, and had fun.

We saw a moose and lots of squirrels. We saw a lot of cows too.
Anna liked the neighbors moose statue, so I took her picture with it.

Rachel said the cabin was her dream home. I thought that was kind of funny. Its not luxurious and is rather old. Its not my dream home, but it is a fun getaway.

Its amazing how long Alex could be entertained by floating sticks in a stream. Don't worry, we watched him closely. And as you can see, its really not very deep or swift.

The weather was quite cold. It actually snowed a little while we were there. Dan's brother Joe kept the fireplace going nice and hot.

The good old leg update......

Probably most of you are really sick of hearing about my stupid leg (I'm sick of my stupid leg, too). So, you can just skip this post if you're tired of the updates. I find it a lot easier to post things than tell the same thing 20 times to 20 different people.

Last week I went to PT for the first time. Really the first time was just an evaluation. The regular physical therapists weren't in. It was just someone filling in for them. She spent over an hour evaluating me, and then sent me home with a few exercises. When I went back this week, the regular PT looked at my chart. And then he did a lot more evaluating. Then he dragged in the other physical therapist to look at me too. I got a lot of "hmmms" and "this is unusual". They left me for a little while, and of course, I thumbed through my chart that they left sitting by me. (Who wouldn't look at their chart, if they're gonna set it next to you and step out of the room?)

After a lot of discussion, they physical therapists concluded that physical therapy was not going to help me. They think I need to pursue a diagnosis. Now, I have an appointment with another doctor at the U.

I am walking really well these days. I am quite thrilled with that. But I know there's still something wrong with me. My reflexes in my left leg are abnormal. I trip or stumble a few times a day. Luckily I haven't fallen down yet. My chart said "possible MS" on about every other page. It can't be MS though. The MRI of my brain came out fine. I don't know what in the world is wrong with me. I've spent a lot of hours online researching things, and haven't been able to find anything that matches exactly.

So, now I'm just in the wait until I see the next doctor. This makes doctor #5.

Alex is amusing......

Alex has started talking a lot lately. I must admit, he really amuses me. He comes up with different things every day.

He has renamed our cat "Twinkle". Anna decided to rename the cat "Sparkle" but he didn't want that name. Not that we were voting on it anyway. Our cat stays outside---at least it does if Alex is anywhere near. Alex calls it "my cat" and carries it everywhere. Tizzy (the cat's real name) is very patient and never scratches him. But she makes a beeline for the door as soon as he sets her down. Cats don't belong in my house anyway.

Alex loves lawnmowers. For a long time, he carried around the lawnmower section of the Sears ad. He called it "my lawnmowers". Whenever we go to my parents house, he always asks my dad where his lawnmower is. Dan recently bought a riding lawnmower. Alex always asks Dan if he is going to "play with his big lawnmower or his little lawnmower". We don't allow rides on the lawnmower. But Alex takes every chance he can get to sit on it and pretend to drive. He thinks any equipment that is remotely similar to a lawnmower is a lawnmower. Those big tractors working on the road are just really big lawnmowers.

At church on Sunday, Alex spotted someone in a wheelchair. He then exclaimed, "Look, a baby jogger!". Of course this was during the sacrament. And he said it many times.

When Alex says his prayers at bedtime lately, he roars a couple of times during his prayer. He is trying to act like a dinosaur. I don't laugh, but it is all I can do not to laugh sometimes.

Cars is his favorite movie. During the day, he goes around clearing his throat and making strange noises. Then he exclaims that he's starting his engine. If you've seen Cars, you know "Start your engines".

When we were driving down the street today, there was a truck in front of us. He yelled, "catch that garbage truck!". It wasn't a garbage truck. But he certainly loves garbage day. With 3 different trash cans, we get to see a lot of garbage trucks. He comes running to the window whenever he hears one.

Although Alex has been a challenging toddler, he sure makes up for it with all of the cute things he does. I love his mischievious little grin. Now that he's talking, I am really enjoying him.

Done with diapers!!!!!!!!!!

We started potty-training Alex on Monday. The first day did not go too well. But then, I went to the store and bought some cool new undies insteady of "tidy whiteys". I never knew how great Cars underwear were. After we got out the new undies, Alex turned over a new leaf. He has had very few accidents.
I was worried about him wearing underwear for bedtime. So I put a diaper on him for bed. A few minutes later, he was no longer wearing it. He was wearing his cool new undies again. Once again, I put a diaper on him. Once again, he took them off and put on his underwear. After he went to sleep, I put a diaper on him.
When he woke up in the morning, his diaper was dry. I tried to diaper him again for bedtime the next night. It was a repeat of the night before. So finally, I just gave up and let him wear his favorite underwear to bed. He has not wet the bed yet. I am thrilled! My other kids wore diapers to bed for quite a while after they were potty-trained.
Since Anna was still in diapers when Alex was born, I've had someone in diapers for 4 years and 7 months now. Diaper free at last!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Now she's 10!

Rachel turned 10 years old last week. This was the first birthday that she didn't want all toys. It was kind of sad in a way, because she's getting old! The two big things she asked for were a bike and a globe. I thought the globe was kind of a funny thing to want. She looks at it every day and finds different places, and asks me where everything is.

We had a friend party on the Saturday before her birthday. At her request, we had a chocolate fountain. They all thought it was great. It actually wasn't as messy as I thought.

On her birthday, my parents came over for cake and ice cream. I made her a chocolate layer cake. Right before my parents came, I ran to the store quickly to get ice cream and candles. When I came home and put the candle on the cake, everyone got quite a laugh. I bought the wrong candle number. Of course I hadn't forgotten how old Rachel was! I don't know how I managed to buy the wrong number. We made do, as you can see.

I am thankful for Rachel. She is such a cute, sweet girl.