Buzzards Roost hike

About three weeks ago it became pretty essential that we get outside despite the cold weather and abundant snow on the ground. The winter gets so long! We decided to hike Buzzards Roost just west of town. Having never ever hiked there before (crazy right?!), we got confused where we were going and first started west on Nemo Road. Derp, it was up Highway 44. So after a longer drive than was planned we finally made it...and Luna promptly puked on the back seat. She's not used to car rides yet! Plus Evie had her covered up with blankets in the very back of the van so she was hot and carsick.

Here the kids were just starting to climb the trail. It was all up for a mile or so.

I was worried about Luna's little feet on the snow for such an extended amount of time, so we held her periodically. She was totally fine though.

Terry was checking our position on his new hiking map. 

Noah entertained himself. 

Further down the line of little trees. 

When we came to a fork we took the right trail hoping it wasn't as steep. We were so wrong.  

It was incredibly steep! I had to hold Ezra's hand and pull him over the icy spots. You can see Noah further up the trail toiling away towards the sun.  

Taking a break. Phew! So tired and sweaty! Perfect!! 

The top of the hill was more of a flat plain ringed with trees and we couldn't see the view we were hoping for. Terry and the kids continued east on the path while I wondered into the trees and discovered this South Rim trail that followed the top of the ridge. So incredibly beautiful!

Man, I needed this. I need it again. Really, weekly or daily adventures outside would help me to cope with life so much better. 

Terry and the kids were not far away and I called them over to take in the view. 

Yay! 

I've said it before and I'll say it again, I love living here! 

Selfie smelfie time. I was only eight days post Lasix surgery and it felt great to not be wearing contacts or glasses. 

Me and him :D 

Heading away from the ridge. :(

We headed down the left hand path that we avoided at the fork. It was probably good we did since it was a lot longer than the steeper hill we climbed. It would have been amazing to sled down.

Jumping off a rock near the bottom. 

Running to the van. 

Noah won :D Luna's first hike was successful!

youth leader Christmas party 2015/16

On January 20th, we had our thrice rescheduled youth leader Christmas party. I made some brickle bites for the occasion (poor man's toffee anyone?). Rarely have these ever come off the pan in one sheet so we had to get a picture of it. Ha!

We had so many people that couldn't come but still our living room was absolutely packed!

You can see the small pile of gifts there to the left. We exchanged socks and candy after playing a version of Two Truths and a Lie where you had to guess whose truth was being read out. Fun times!

The couch crew, Rob, Ed, Sue, Allison, and Natasha.

Stephanie, Martin (and their adorable baby!!), Kristen, and Jordyn.  

Russ side-eyeing me. ;)

Frannie insisted on taking my photo. This was only the second night after my Lasix surgery and I remember my eyes were pretty darn irritated, but hey, no glasses!

Natasha stole my phone and took some gems of she and Allison.

A true cat lover, I thought her shirt was hilarious. 

Emma enjoying that baby. Dawww!

This is my favorite shot from the night. Ed is so happy with his socks!! 

more of Luna

What to do with a bunch of random Luna pics but compile them in one post?! :D

A few weeks ago the widdle baby was snuggling her stuffed dinosaur friend. She does regularly try to kill it, but at this moment there was peace.

We've been giving her weekly baths to keep her extra...nice smelling? Ha ha. But she sure does fluff up so lovely after a bath.

This is exactly how me and the kids react her to fluffiness. No joke.

She wasn't even attached to her leash and still she chose to lay down on her blanket. She is gaining more freedom, though the longest she's gone with no accidents in the house is one week. She's accepted her little area! Not bad for only having her for a month now. I call that progress. 

Last weekend I was sick with a cold and spent Saturday afternoon just sitting on the couch reading. Luna prefers to curl up right next to me, or better yet, sit right on my lap. She's my cat dog. Perfect!

Since I caught my cold from the 3 youngest and then Terry and Noah also got it, we had to stay home for the Superbowl. Luna was even allowed downstairs! 

And this picture is just from today. I thought it was so cute that Luna was [mostly] willingly sitting on Ezra's lap so I was trying to get a good shot of them. But then Ezra tried sticking his finger in her eye! I stopped him right away but still captured the moment - it well describes their relationship, one of puppy brotherhood. Ezra is always baiting Luna to chase him or steal his toys so he can pull them back to himself. I tell him to stop and discipline him but I guess it's his puppy nature - he acts more puppy than human with her. Yesterday I caught her chasing him around and biting the back of his sweatshirt. Then Ezra would grab her tail! Those two!!  

my eyes

At the end of November I began undergoing some scans on my eyes. Here they are all freaky looking because of the dilation.

I looked so funny that I posted the picture on Facebook. Our friend Aaron added some flames to my eyes... Ha!

Everything looked good so I went under the knife...um, I mean, the laser. I had LASIX done on Thursday January 19!! Yay! Yeah, it's something I always wanted, was a good candidate for, but never thought would actually happen. Everything worked out so well for this it to happen this year though.

I was actually originally scheduled for January 5, two weeks earlier, but when we were halfway to the clinic they called to cancel because the laser gave them an error. I was SO bummed! I had been so worked up with anxiety and fear that it took me several hours to see the wisdom in it. This was actually for the best since the following day, the 6th, was the day we got Luna. With all the work that the next two weeks held with potty training, I was quite happy to not be uncomfortable. Plus, who wants to entrust their eyes to a faulty laser?! My sister said, "Let them try it on someone else." Ha!

The procedure was super quick, 20 minutes tops, and pretty painless. The worst part was when they put a suction cup thingy on my eye to make the cornea flap by laser. The thing pressed down so hard it felt like someone was standing on my eye! I had a couple moments of panic where I wanted to run out of there, but really, it was only a couple minutes of pressure per eye.

Once the flaps were cut they moved me over to the laser. That part was completely painless and once they got my eyes lined up, moved the flap aside, and added tons of numbing drops, the laser correction lasted only seconds, maybe five or ten. All I had to do was stare upwards at a green and red light and even if I blinked the laser would track that. Plus I couldn't feel a thing. It was like watching a blurry movie. Then they put the flap back down, painted over it, added drops, and I was done! They took me to recovery and added tons of drops and sent me home. 

I walked out to the waiting room in a fog. Everything was seriously SO foggy. All morning it was exactly like my glasses had fully fogged up after coming in from a very cold trip outside. Once I got to the waiting room, I sat down expecting my dad to come pick me up any minute and tried to text Terry to let him know I was done. I couldn't even push the right button! I just talked-to-text and then dad came.

All morning I was putting in drops every five minutes and then every 30 minutes and two hours. I felt so great initially at home with drops going in that often. I snapped this picture of myself, first blowing on the camera because that's what everything looked like to me - fog. By the end of the day the fog was mostly gone though.

Three hours later, after lunch, my eyes began becoming extremely sensitive to light. I put on my darkest sunglasses but soon that wasn't enough and I took shelter in my nearly pitch dark bedroom. 

Even that wasn't enough. My eyes were smarting big time. I had the stinging feeling when you look at the sun and your eyes sort of cringe up. Or the feeling when you're just starting to cry. It was it constant. My eyes would just sort of irresistibly bulge or roll shut. It also felt like sand was in my eyes. I had two or three pretty rough hours and then suddenly it got better. I had moved downstairs to the dungeon so I could pace and watch a movie but that wasn't helping enough. I called and talked to my mom for 30 or 45 minutes, which was helpfully distracting, and suddenly I was actually able to watch the rest of the movie (Superman Returns) with the kids.

This is the picture they took of me right before I took my glasses off for the last time. Eeee!

The following day I went in for a follow up exam and could see 20/20! I already felt so much better than the previous day. I'm still recovering slowly and steadily, which could take six to eight weeks. Right now it's two weeks later and I only really have issues at night. The optometrist said eyes just lose their moisture throughout the day so it's normal to have more dryness and irritation then. I have been feeling the need to take out my contacts at night to gain some relief but I don't have any in! 

It's still pretty surreal that I'm not wearing contacts and I never will have to again. At my one week followup last week I had 20/15 vision!

party time by Evie

Two weeks ago Evie somehow got it in her head that she would like a party to celebrate the end of the school week. It was entirely her idea and she went to work straight away. She spent all afternoon preparing.

After dinner the time had finally come to release the confetti she made from tearing up streamers. 

Evie organized four games for us all, the first of which was Pin the Tail on the Donkey. 

She even made the blindfold which she cut out of pink construction paper. 

Of course she was in charge of spinning everyone. 

She didn't do such a great job blindfolding herself. Ha! 

Noah did end up finding the donkey which was hand drawn by Evie.

Finally it was mommy's turn. 

No blindfold necessary for me.  

Next on the docket was Musical Chairs. 

I was in charge of the iPod while they raced around the chairs giggling madly. 

Samuel was quite bummed to lose. Ha ha! Noah ended up winning this round.

 Daddy dancing around the chairs makes me smile.

We finally talked to Noah and Evie about how they needed to actually give the littles a chance.  

Ezra was so mad when he lost! Oh my, can you tell we have anger issues in this house? 

We let him win next time. 

Next up was a coloring contest. Look at those decorations! Seriously I don't know where this girl gets it from.  

She's such a fun girl. 

Evie chose the winner and then they had another round of coloring. Last was a dancing party. Yay for the weekend!