Bowling!

We had so much fun bowling for my birthday on Friday!! The kids just loved it :) Austin was trying so hard to hold the 7lb ball all by himself and put it on the "hill" they have for the little ones. He was so cute when we got the ball up there, then he'd wait, and ask "can I push it now?" Such a big boy!! Madison was able to put the ball up there herself and had fun watching the pins fall down and cheering after. It was so fun to bowl but even funner to watch the kids bowl. Oh and BTW I totally beat Garrett who didn't even break 100. (He later made up the excuse that he let me win because it was my birthday! HAHA nice try hun!!) Oh and the little bowling shoes for the kids were the cutest thing ever!!!

Austin's Doctor Appointment

Took Austin in today to have the doctor check out his lungs again. She said that what he has seems to be asthma. She heard some wheezing and suggested that we put him on Abutarol which will immediately unconstrict his lungs when he's having an asthma attack. (Does that make sense??) Its another steroid through the nebulizer and we did a treatment there in the office and it seem to have worked. So now when he is wheezing I have to give him a treatment with that on top of his regular treatment of Pulmacort. So that is that. We just watch him and give him the treatments when needed. Also he weighs only 25 lbs. but is now in he 11th percent tile. Hopfully this will work for him and he can get better. Just thought I'd share the update with everyone!!

Well.....

I can't believe it is February already!! January went by fast as usual, which was weird because we didn't do anything but our sledding trip. Just school for Madison and the usual everyday running around. I'm sure February is going to fly by as well. We got to see my mom last Tuesday for lunch. That was nice and the kids enjoyed getting to see her. Last night we got a babysitter (our neighbors daughter) and went out with our friends for Garrett's birthday/promotion. It was fun and relaxing. Nice to have an adult dinner without kids every once in awhile. Speaking of promotion, Garrett is now a Process Engineer with IMFT. So very proud of him. He was able to go in there and get a job he wanted with what he had to offer and beat our another guy that had more schooling/experience. He is super awesome :)
Thursday Madison has Kindergarten Registration. So excited for that. We get to take her to the school with her friend and show her around. Garrett gets to come with us, and he seems really excited to be able to be there. She is still doing great in school and has made two friends that she talks about regularly. We are going to see if she wants to do softball/t-ball or soccer this summer. Excited for that too!!
Austin is getting sick AGAIN!!! His cough is back, has been for about a week, but isn't really showing signs of a cold. It makes me nervous because the whooping cough is going around. He has been vaccinated for it of course but with him I have to be extra careful. I'm thinking about taking him to the doctor and talking to her about getting an chest xray again just to see if it's any worse/better, and if there is maybe more we can do about it.
And thats it for now. I'll update about Thursday later. Hope all is good!!

Sledding

Yesterday we rounded up the neighbors and took the kids sledding at a huge hill by the amphitheater in Eagle Mountain. We started on the smaller section first which was enough to put smiles on their faces. I took Madison down first and then came back and got Austin when he was ready. He LOVED it. He laughed the whole way down, which had me laughing!! Then Garrett and I took Madison and Austin all together down the big hill which was so scary, but fun. We were going so fast and didn't stop until we were on the dirt at the bottom on the hill. After the big hill, which Madison wasn't too fond of, we took them to a hill that looked like a 'U'. I don't know how else to explain it. You went down one side and up the other alittle bit, going back and forth until you stopped. It was Madison's favorite. She stayed there for a good 30 mins while Austin ran off to the park. Thats right we took the kids sledding and they just wanted to play at the park!! Austin stayed there and played while the others kept sledding. Madison eventually came over and played on the swings with Austin. After that the snow was getting mushy and the sled was losing air so it was slow enough to let them try themselves. We took them back to the little hill and let Austin and Madison go down together, which was fun to watch!! We even let Austin do it a few times himself. Gosh he looked so big! And then it was back to the big hill for our last runs of the day. I took Austin, Madison, and Kesler down twice, and then all of them; Trek and Kesler, Bryce, and Garrett, AJ, and Madison, went down the hill side by side. Of course the kids didn't want to go, but we were all so tired. We were almost there for two hours!! I don't have the pictures yet because Jen took them all, but I will try to get them from her soon. It was so much fun, and warm too. I love that we didn't freeze our butts off :)

Trip to Elko

Our trip to Elko was so fun! Loved all the family visit!! We spent Wednesday at Grandma Kathy's playing with Kait and Kenzie. The kids had so much fun playing together and opening their gifts they got eachother. We loved hearing the stories they brought back from Disneyland! Can't wait to go ourselves!! Had a yummy lasagna dinner, as usual! Thanks Grandma! Thursday we spent the morning in town grocery shopping and finding shoes at JCPennys....I'm laughing cause Elko doesn't really have a shoe store and we went there to find Garretts shoes!! Funny stuff :) After that we had lunch with Grandma Terri and GG....aw 9 beans was yummy!! The kids got to open a few gifts there, which they loved!! Had a very good lunch visit with them. Then it was off to Grandpa Neal's house to make pies and cookies. I had a great time with my brother making pies. We spent two hours in the kitchen together, talking and baking. Thanks Cody, I'll remember that forever! Then it was off to Traci's for a spaghetti dinner and wine....haha ok so I had the wine but I think everyone enjoyed it :) Friday we spent the morning getting everything ready for our big dinner with my family. Yummy ham, turkey, and all the fixings!! We had great company and more presents for the kids!! They are gonna think everytime we go to Elko they are going to get presents. Madison kept asking, "when are we going to get presents from them"! Such a greedy girl. Friday night Garrett and I went out with my sister, Traci, and her hubby to the casinos. We did a little drinking, a little gambling, and a little dancing. Watched some fireworks and went back to the hotel room and passed out by 12:30. Saturday we were up early and headed to Grandma and Papas to get the kiddos and spend the day playing, painting, and a very cold, but fun wagon ride! Oh and finally an updated Grider Family picture yay!! Sunday we had a beautiful breakfast at my sister Tabitha's house. Thank you for all of that food, girl! We watched the kids play for alittle bit before Leena had to nap, but still visited with our kids played with her toys. It was good to sit and visit with my sisters and brother!! Then it was off to our long trip home......always the fun part!! NOT!! But we made it and with no tears, so thats a plus. Thanks again everyone for the visit, the gifts, the laughs, and the food. We love you all!!
So as you can see we had a very busy trip. Always on the go! We came home and had to get back into the swing of things with Madison's school. Luckily Garrett had this week off so that has been nice. He's been painting the garage and tinkering with the four wheeler. Trying to get that to work. He goes back to work Sunday, on days (YES!!), and then it will be really back to reality. Sorry it took so long to write this, all I wanna do it sleep!! Pictures will come soon :)

Christmas

We had a very nice Christmas this year. We had our Christmas dinner on Christmas Eve. It was just the four of us and a yummy ham with potatoes, corn, rolls, pasta salad, and apple pie. Very good and quiet. After dinner we opened our Christmas jammies and cuddled up on the couch for some Polar Express time. After our movie we got in the the truck with our hot chocolate and drove around the neighborhood looking at Christmas lights. The kids really enjoyed that. Austin kept yelling, "look at that one"! Really cute. After lights we came home, read The Polar Express, sent out cookies, milk, and carrots for Santa and his Reindeer.

Christmas morning started at 8am (thankful for that!!) with excitement from both kids. Madison was able to read who the presents were too this year so that was fun! Austin got tired towards the end and wanted to be done, but we just kept handing him gifts and helping him open them! Madison was very excited to get her Leapster (the best gift she says), pillow pet, and a barbie car, which were on her Santa list but kept asking where her moon dough was, which was also on her list!! LOL so cute. Hope everyone has a blessed Christmas!! (and hurry back and post Michelle! We all want to hear all about it!)

December.....so far!

Beautiful spot on our way home. Thinking of plopping the kids on the rails for a picture!

Visit with Santa. This is a bad picture cause it is a picture of a picture but you get the idea!

Helping dad paint!

I can't believe the end of the year is here.....already! We've been busy decorating the house, painting the garage, and visiting with my mom. Already it has been a busy month. On December 1st I pulled out all the Christmas stuff from down in the crawlspace, by myself I might add, and the kids and I decorated the tree. There aren't alot of pictures of that this year since I just wanted it all up, but the kids had so much fun helping me color coordinate all the tree parts. Then they sat and complained that I was taking way too long with putting the tree together and doing the lights. They couldn't wait to put the ornaments on!! They had a blast putting the ornaments on the tree, only two got broke :), and they really loved putting the glittery balls on the tree and then rubbing their little hands all over themselves and the house to see what they could make sparkle!! Haha those quickly got moved to the top of the tree lol. Madison has helped me wrap some presents and has taken the scraps off to her room to wrap rocks and her little pets! Garrett spent the last weekend painting the garage white. It looks so good and clean. Its really something we should have done before we moved in so we couldn't have just gotten it done, instead of moving all the garage crap from on side to the other and then back!! So frustrating. The kids want to go out there and help daddy, but there is just no room and they just don't understand! Madison has helped alittle bit and now we need a new faceplate for the switch lol.

My mom came up this weekend and we spent Saturday at the Mall shopping, seeing Santa, and riding the Merry-go-round! Had a great visit with great company. Thanks mom for the visit and dinner. It was great seeing you!! Here are a few pictures of whats been going on. Madison has another sing in on the 16th at her school. This time she asked if Austin could join us. So sweet! Hope everyone is enjoying this beautiful season and we will see you all very soon!!