The Old Idaho State Penitentiary

We are down to like 11 or 12 days left in Boise.  So for Memorial day we wanted to do something fun that we can only do in Boise for our last hoorah.  We had been wanting to see the old penitentiary for years now, but never got around to it.  We decided it was the perfect activity so we went.  It was the Idaho penitentiary for 101 years from 1872 to 1973.  It is now a museum and haunted attraction.  We spent about two hours there (with 5 kids, that's pretty good).  We LOVED it.  It was so cool and interesting.  Supposedly its haunted, but we didn't run across any ghosts!  I really enjoy museums and stuff so I thought it was awesome. We saw the women's section, Death row, the Gallows, solitary confinement, and a bunch of cell blocks.  There were even some buildings that were basically burned down during riots and only the walls remained.  So much awesomeness.  Corbin and I both like Death row the best.  I would have loved to go without kids so I could have spent more time reading the interesting facts, but alas....it was still fun.

Two weeks left

Hey Y'all!  Did you know we're moving?  I might have mentioned it previously.  I'm SUPER excited!  We are leaving in just two short weeks.  I have been crazy busy packing and cleaning and painting to get ready for the big event.  I seriously can't wait to get to spend more time with my family, Scott's parents and extended family, and all our friends that live close by our new house.  It feels like Christmas to me.

But....There are a few things I'm going to miss in Idaho.

1)  All our doctors.  We have a great eye doc for the kids, an amazing cardiologist for Ivy, and the best pediatrician.  It's hard to switch doctors.  I trust these doctors with the health of my children and its hard and time consuming to build up the amount of trust that we have.  I'm dreading the switch.  Especially with the pediatrician.  I'm so afraid we wont find another doctor that cares for the kids the way that Dr. Kiehl does. I'm a little sad about it.

2)  Our house.  I wish we could just pick up our house and take it with us.  It's got such a great layout and is so spacious...its hard to leave a house that we love so much.

3) The elementary school.  Desert Sage is really a good school, and its literally a three minute walk from our house.  I have always felt confident that the kids were getting a good education and they've had great teachers.  I know Utah schools don't get as much financing as schools here, I just hope that it doesn't effect the quality of the education they receive.

4) The weather.  For the most part Boise has pretty mild weather.  It doesn't get quite so cold, snowy and miserable in winter as the SL valley.  I'm definitely not looking forward to winter drivers in Utah, that's for sure.

5)Speaking of drivers...The traffic in the SL valley is pretty horrible.  In Boise its not bad at all.  Also, Utah drivers are less patient and sometimes terrifying.  I should know, I used to be one of them.  Luckily, Scott will be working from home, and hopefully I'll walk the kids to school so that will cut out two of the big reasons to drive.

6) Idaho cousins.  Both Scott's brother's live here in Boise, so that means we will be ditching the cousins that our kids have become such good friends with.  I think we are all a bit sad about it, but they have other cousins in Utah that we haven't been able to get to know very well and its a great chance to become friends with them.  Besides, I'm sure we will still get to see everyone enough that the friendships will survive.

7)  The friends we've made.  Believe it or not, even home-bodies like us can make friends.  I have a lot of friends in our ward and neighborhood that make it hard to leave and Scott has some friends at work that share his geekiness that he's sad to not see much of anymore. And of course Scott's brother's and their wives, who we'll miss too. Hopefully we'll be able to keep up with everyone somehow.

Writing down all the good things about Idaho makes me sad to leave, but being back to our "old stomping grounds" by more of the people that love us makes it worth it.

PS.  If anyone here in Boise would like to help us load up the Uhaul on Friday, June 7th, we'd love the help, or anyone in SLC who'd be willing to help us unload the next evening (Saturday the 8th) at our new home in Sandy, you are always welcome.......

Echo is Excellent

Echo turned two yesterday.  I seriously can't believe she's already two.  These last two years flew by!! 

Echo on May 18, 2011   

May 18, 2012

Here is just a little bit of Echo info for your enjoyment.

 Echo is such an awesome girl.  She LOVES being outside at all hours of the day.  She plays in the dirt, goes up and down the slide, and jumps on the trampoline all day long.

She also loves to sing, mostly "Twinkle twinkle little star", but a few others as well.

She talks a lot now too.  She can say all of our names except Corbin and Malcolm.  She calls Corbin "Dexy" (she calls Dexy "Dexy" too....she knows the difference between them and will point out Corbin when we say "Where's Corbin?". She just can't say it, its a hard word, so they are both Dexy.)  She calls Malcolm "Baby".

She adores Ivy and loves playing with her.  They are so cute together.  Whenever she and Ivy are in different area's of the house she can be heard yelling "IVY!!" in her loudest voice (which is pretty darn loud).

She is addicted to three things.  She has to have them for naps and bedtime, and when she's sad. 1) Her Paci...I planned on taking it at age two, but I'm not ready yet.  I've got to wean her down.  She wants it all day.  I'm going to start taking it during the day and only let her have it during naps and bedtime, but I'm waiting til after we move. 2) Her seahorse.  She loves her seahorse.  When she can't find it she will wander around the house looking for it saying, "Seahorsy, where are you?"  It melts my heart.  3) Her blanket.  She got it as a gift from Grandma Marde when she was born, but sometime in the last year or so she got super addicted to it and now can't sleep without it.  She often goes to get it from her room when she's feeling sad or cuddly.  She's so cute.

Anyway, Echo is excellent and we love having her in our family.  She is such a good sister and daughter.  Happy Birthday Echo!

Echo enjoying her favorite snack-olives!

Jumping on the trampoline with her seahorse, blanket and paci!

Sprinkler time!

Fell asleep on the couch

Enjoying Jungle Jims

Run Fat Girl Run

I started walking/jogging in the mornings.  Yep.  I know.  I'm as shocked as you.  I get up super early (6:45, which is really early for me), take Scott's iPod and try to get in a full hour to myself before I have to be back home to get Corbin ready for school.  It's so nice and cool in the morning (but not cold), and its quiet, and I can listen to whatever I want.  I'm really enjoying it.

Except for one thing.

I keep getting a blister.  In the same place.  On the bottom of my foot.  It's really starting to annoy me.

Have you ever seen Run, Fat boy, Run?  It's a Simon Pegg comedy.  I'm a big fan.  There are lots of potty jokes and shenanigans, and it's probably not too wholesome.  But I thought it was really funny.  Anyway, there is this scene with a blister.  Each day as my blister gets bigger and grosser I think of that scene.

Today, When I was walking Dexter to school with my flip flops on, the blister popped.  I felt like I'd stepped in a puddle.  My whole sandal was soaked.  So disgusting.

Will my feet eventually toughen up, or do I need new shoes?  I'm asking all you runners out there, I know at least a few of you read my blog.....

And for the other 2 people who read it, and are interested, here's the blister scene from Run, Fat boy, Run.

link to youtube or watch below.

For Your Enjoyment!

So Scott has been working on our family montage videos lately.  He's super behind (because frankly, we have like a million kids and its a lot of work!), but here is the latest video.  It's probably one of those things only the grandparents care about, but these videos are one of my favorite things, and our family LOVES them!  It's Dexter age 4-5.  Enjoy!

Link to YouTube

or watch below:

SEVEN MONTHS

So Malcolm-moo turned seven months old about a week and a half ago.  I can't believe he's already 7 months!  He is now the age Echo was when I found out I was pregnant again....No offense to little Mr. Moo, but I'm so glad I'm not pregnant!!

Malcolm is absolutely delightful.  He is so cute and happy all the time.  He rolls around the floor at the speed of light and I think he's considering not crawling ever because he gets around just fine!  He also sits up on his own and plays with toys or whatever, which is fantastic for when it comes time for me to shower!!  No more screaming while I try to take 5 minutes for myself (well not NO more screaming, but much LESS).

He and I are currently in the middle of a power struggle about sleep time.  He doesn't want to sleep by himself in his crib, and while I love him like crazy, I just don't want him to sleep next to me all night long.  I need some real sleep!  And I need him to nap for longer than 5 minutes.  We're working on these sleep issues, and I know, EVENTUALLY, I will win.  Because lets face it, I always do and all my other kids are super sleepers and he's bound to join the rest of us and sleep like a champ at some point.

Anyway, here are some super cute pictures of Mr. Moo at his cutest!

Rolling around on the floor.  His new favorite past-time.

Trying to be one of the big boys, playing with Spongebob on Dexy's Spongebob bed.

Taking a drive around town!  Just kidding, don't worry, the car was parked, he just needed a break from the carseat.  He wants to be a race car driver!

Sitting outside watching Echo slide, jump on the trampoline, swing, throw rocks, and eat dirt!  Lets hope he doesn't pick up on the throwing rocks and eating dirt!

Malcolm discovered his tongue recently. He thinks its so fun, I think its so cute!

Scott finds it impossible to avoid falling asleep while holding a sleeping baby.  I love it.  Seeing this makes me love them both more.

So to sum up.  I love my adorable baby and I am so happy to have him in our family, but I'm also happy that so far, no new babies will be joining him!  Yay for seven months!

Ivy Update

So the blood and urine cultures finished doing whatever it is they do...

The infectious disease doctor called last night to tell us that Ivy doesn't have a bladder infection.  It turns out that it probably was a good thing I took her to the ER so she could get that antibiotic shot in her bum.  Because she actually has a kidney infection.  And its been a kidney infection the whole time.  Even last time they did blood and urine cultures, they just didn't test them for that (or something, The Doc went all jargony on me and I only sort of understood).  Anyway, he said the reason she was sick and then got better with the augmenton and then got sick again was because the augmenton didn't clear it up all the way because it isn't strong enough, so he quickly faxed over a new, stronger antibiotic for her and I had to run in and pick it up before the pharmacy closed because it was important that she start it right away.  Luckily, I made it! So now she's on Cipro which should clear it up.  She also has a renal ultrasound scheduled for tomorrow morning.  I haven't told her yet.  She's not going to be happy.

I'm so glad we have finally gotten to the bottom of this illness.  Now we can focus on her getting better again.


Just a side note:  I almost died from a kidney infection when I was three years old.  Now I can say that she and I have a medical complication in common!