Happy birthday to us!

       Easter weekend was amazing! Instead of buying each other gifts for our April birthdays, Barry and I decided to buy tickets to the Hale Centre Theatre in West Valley City, Utah. (I'm sooooo lucky to be married to a lover of Fine Arts!!!!) So, if you know me and Barry, we HAD to pack a punch into the two day trip (saving weeks worth of plasma donation money to afford it). On Monday, we took our kids to the Hogle Zoo with family and DEAR friends, ate lunch at The Olive Garden, took our kids to the Church History Museum to see the interactive Book of Mormon exhibit for kids (SO FUN!), then walked around temple square, then to the splash pad at the new City Creek (across from temple square), then dropped the kids off with family, went to Leatherby's for AMAAAAAZING Ice cream! And lastly, on to see "Zorro: the Musical" with our DEAR friends. (My apologies to other friends who are just as dear, that we were unable to visit!!!)

     Best. Day. Ever.

     I will be posting all the pictures of our trip on facebook, but this little gem had to go on the blog. If you notice, there's a  baby elephant with his nose against a wall back there. The moment we walked up to see them, Grayson pointed at it and said, "Look, the little elephant's in time out!"

     Apparently, children annoy parents of all species. Who knew?  

Conference Weekend

     I recognize that I hardly write on my blog anymore, perhaps it's the hustle and bustle of every day life with three rambunctious children that prevents me from finding the time to hop online... but any of you who follow me on pinterest know that I'd be lying. I wouldn't be lying though, if I said it might have to do with that darned new feature on blogspot that actually shows you how many people read your blog.

That can be a little depressing.

     I'm not doing a blog to earn money, or share my craftiness with the world, but just to keep in touch with people. And apparently, I'm only keeping in touch with the one to three people who regularly read this thing. (To those readers... THANKS!)  But my mom is also trying to become more tech-saavy, so I'm doing this for you, Mom!

And because it's the only chance I get to really creatively write... I need a hobby :)

So anyway, what I'm saying is, I think I'm going to try and start blogging on a more regular basis. Just because it's fun.

     I'll start with these pictures of my homemade donuts! I'm beginning to notice that whenever I bake something that isn't on the regular menu... my family deems it picture-worthy. We get too excited about our baked goods! But in early march, I was asked to speak in church about preparing for general conference, so I tried my best to live up to my talk.

     The best part about giving the talk was the amount of people who came up afterward, to tell me the ideas they thought about while I spoke. I talked a lot about making traditions out of conference, and a handful of ward members came up to me so excited about traditions they wanted to start. For our own family, Barry suggested we try making homemade donuts.



                                    

(Jaye eats really weird, so her face ALWAYS looks like this. She likes to eat the toppings off things like donuts and pizza, because she doesn't really like bread.)

      So we spent Conference weekend eating finger foods and donuts. Grayson and I also spent about an hour cutting out pictures of Jesus from dozens of old Ensign magazines (I got them free from the public library) and during conference we all made a HUGE collage picture of them, to display for Easter. (if you're thinking, "what a great idea, Krystle!" Think again. It was so stressful! We laid out the dozens of pictures first and then I delusionally thought the kids could keep it all in place while trying to glue it all together. ANYWAY...) Then I planned a reverent stroll around the temple inbetween sessions. The wind was whipping, and it was cold, and Grayson cried the whole time because he was miserable.

Then when the last session started, Grayson looked at us, and huffed, "Is this still going!?"

     BUT, we made it through. My kids sat through almost 8 hours of conference quietly. We have a beautiful reminder of the Easter season on our piano. And the talks were so inspiring. And now I have a list of traditions we will and will NOT be continuing!

             

               (I think it's sad that we have pictures of my donuts... but not my kids' artwork!

               I will have to snap a picture of them holding it. But here is the website for the

               donut recipe if you are ever feeling ambitious. I hope you had a Wonderful

                conference too!)

Jaye can hear now!

    Jaye has been receiving toddler developmental services since October of last year. She just wasn't talking very well... or much... so the team who worked with her tested her inner ears on four different occasions. Each time, she failed the test (meaning she had fluid build-up). They made a file of all her tests and mailed it to her pediatrician so when I took her in and explained that she had failed the tympanogram several times, we could get her ears checked. 

     All the doctor did was clap his hands then said, "See... she heard that. She's fine." And sent me on my way. HUFF. (reason number one why I don't miss Carlsbad). Now in Rexburg, the new developmental team working with my daughter couldn't believe my "brilliant" pediatrician, and suggested I try an Ear, Nose, and Throat Doctor. Which we did last week.

     The Doctor barely glanced at the Tympanogram results and told me she needed tubes in her ears. So this morning, we all got up at 5:30, dropped Grayson off at a babysitter, and me and the girls drove to the Surgical Center. I was expecting a MUCH MORE traumatic experience but it was very nice.

My little trooper was scared when we first set her in the hospital bed.

 But she had an AWESOME nurse! This guy blew her up the biggest balloon glove I've ever seen!

  After that, she was as happy as can be. He even drew a happy face for her! She was throwing it to everyone, and I have to say, they were quite smitten with her.

 The actual surgery only lasted about 15 minutes, they were a little concerned because no one could get her to wake up. They thought it was because of the anesthesia, but I'm pretty sure my sound sleeper was just making up for an early morning.

So, the Doctor said the fluid in her ears caused about 30% hearing loss, and everything she heard sounded like she was underwater. He said most kids with speech delays will blossom quickly after getting tubes because they can actually hear, so I can't wait to see how my little monkey does! I just feel frustrated that I tried to fix this months ago... but I also feel so blessed we were able to get it done.