Rewind

Yeah I know, its has been awhile....
Wow! Since we have returned home from Utah
we have been just trying to stay a float and catch up on things.

I needed to rewind and go back to when we were in Utah and post these pictures

Most of our time in Utah was spent hanging out with my Dad
however, we did take a couple of afternoons here and there to get some fresh air & do some fun things too!

We all love this park and as a bonus its not that far from the folks

Seriously, Jump On It needs to franchise.
We need a place like this closer to home!
Trampolines everywhere

We love showing our kids where we met!



Other moments not to be forgotten but for some reason don't have pictures of,
apparently we were enjoying living in the moment and not taking pictures!

*Niece A's baptism with confirmation grandpa's bedside
*Nephew A receiving his Eagle Scout/Eagle Court of Honor by grandpa's bedside
*being upstairs while a High Council meeting took place downstairs so my dad could be in attendance
*Tom going mountain biking at Sundance with his nephew B
*Roasting Marshmallows with cousins
*Sleepovers
*Shopping

Adventure part 2

More pictures from our Utah trip.......

Spending the day with family especially my Dad on Fathers Day!
Only downside was Tom wasn't in Utah yet.

For FHE one Monday we spent the night climbing around a pyramid

(aka cement and metal playground set) and surprisingly nobody got injured.

While driving to Ogden to surprise Nana and Papa Priddis, (first time meeting our new baby)

my sister was reminded of the new law to change lanes if a policeman has someone already pulled over.

Tom arrived in Utah and for a couple of hours we explored Wheeler Farm

Part 1 of Adventure

Adventurous is the one word that explains the 3 weeks we just spent in Utah….

(1) Taking a mid-day stroll to the park and on our return notice that babies legs got a little red

(yep his first sunburn)

(2) A fun evening of swimming with papa, which lead to papa having to get a new cane

(3) Took the kids rock climbing for the first time with their cousins, which resulted in one of our cousins having a sprained ankle by the end of the day.

(4) Seeing a huge display of the Salt Lake City Temple

(5) Driving though the canyon to go fishing with the gas light on is always an adventure!

(6) Horseback riding with papa even though all the doctors didn’t recommend it.

April 4-April 20-Utah Trip Part 1

We made it, We survived...

The kids and I took a long plane ride to Utah, which included one layover.
The older two kids each had a backback filled to the brim with fun things to play with and treats to enjoy!
They loved looking out the window and playing with their sticker books.
For our youngest, just a month old he slept or ate though most of the flights.
For the most part, our travel days on the airplane were uneventful.

All of our family members were exicted to see us.

Especially to meet and hold the baby, he seemed to love being held by everyone.

The main purpose for this trip was to spend time with my Dad, especially for him to met his youngest grandson and namesake. Oh, and of course to make some fun memories and help out where we could.

You see, February 8th, when I 36 weeks pregnant, my Dad went to work like normal but about halfway though his day the left side of his body went numb. He went to the hospital and after a CT Scan and an MRI - Dad was diagnosed with an aggressive golf ball sized glioblastoma brain tumor on the right side of his brain. It was in the area that controls the left side of his body. He had surgery a few days later and a follow up MRI showed they were able to remove about 90% of the tumor.

Dad was later moved to a rehab center to work on his left hand, while at rehab he suffered a blood clot that went into his lungs they transported him back to the hospital where he underwent a small procedure to implant a greenfield filter to help prevent any future clots from traveling to his lungs.

To say the least it was a little nerve racking not being able to travel due to my pregnancy. I so wanted to be there with my Dad; the first chance I got, I purchased tickets for me and the kids and we headed to Utah. (Tom only has so many days off a year, he is saving up for a time when we can take Dad on a real vacation.) While were were there Dad was undergoing radiation and Chemo. He hasn't been to sick during this time of radiation but he started to lose some of his hair while were there. He would have days where he was very tired and days when his legs wouldn't work as well but often he would have good days where he was able to walk around without his cane. He would sit on the floor and play with the kids and on really good days we would go out and have some fun in the sunshine and enjoy the fresh air.

All in all, it was a wonderful trip. The kids had a lot of fun playing with cousins and we got to visit some neat places in Utah. But I'll write more about that later.

Part 2 to come...

Family Visits

The end of October my sister and her family came out to visit for 2 weeks!
We had such a great time visitng and seeing some of the sites that sorround us.

Here are some of the things we did while they were here.

In Indiana: Walking the Ohio River Front and playing at 'Castle Park'

In St. Louis we went to top of the arch, visited the St. Louis Temple, eating a whole lot of Ted Drews Ice Cream, going to the St. Louis Zoo, St. Louis Science Center and the City Museum.

In Kentucky: walking and playing at John James Audubon Park and taking a tour of Mammouth Cave.

We sure do love when we have visitors come hang out with us!

NC=The Beach (Oct. 19, 2009)

The beach is a wonderful place. What great memories and experiences take place with just sand, water and the sun shinning down upon us.

This was our first visit to a North Carolina Beach. The Crystal Coast - Atlantic Beach was amazing! We now see and understand why everyone talks about the North Carolina Beaches. We had the pleasure of staying 2 nights at the Sheraton Atlantic Beach Oceanfront Hotel which had pier and beach access. The kids loved the little playground that was set up just outside the hotel doors and footsteps from the beach. We had pleasant weather, with no crowds (since it was the off-season).

We enjoyed walking along the wooden pier where men and women were fishing, collecting and bringing home huge seashells. Also, we found it interesting that shrimp was being sold on the corners of streets. We enjoyed eating dinner at a seafood place called Sanitary Fish where we tried their famous Tar Heel Hush Puppies and some East Coast Oysters. We explored Fort Macon State Park (the pentagon-shaped fortress was the military home to General Robert E. Lee when he was a young Army officer.) At Fort Macon we saw a couple catch and release a string ray, which was a first-time experience for all of us. The only thing we wished we could have done but because of time restrictions didn't get to do was the NC Aquarium at Pine Knoll Shores- hopefully, next time.

NC = Family (Oct.17 2009)

We drove to NC....

to see our NC Family


meet the newest additon to the Priddis family....

and play with cousins after a long drive

We wish we could have stayed longer - Thanks for letting us crash at your place!

What did we do last week?

Nana & Papa came to visit us....

The year 2009 celebates Abraham Lincoln's 200th birthday.

We went to Springfield, IL to see the many Abraham Lincoln sites!

While we were in Springfield we learned alot about Abraham Lincoln....

Abraham Lincoln was born in Kentucky, spent his youth in Indiana, and made Illinois his home.

Our next stop was to the Indianapolis Children's Musuem - We have been to many children's museums and this one still is one of the best.

Further in the week went to Marengo Cave, where we took a walking tour of the Dripstone trail. It was about a one mile tour which took about an hour - The guide stops often to talk about the different formations that were we seeing.

On our way home from Marengo Cave we stopped in Santa Clause, Indiana to walk though some of the shops. J even wrote a letter to Santa and put it an a special mailbox just for him.

Maryland Science Center

Our next stop on our vacation, was to the Maryland Science Center.

Newton's Alley Exhibit

was a very energetic hands-on exhibit that we spent quite a long time exploring!

Of course no scrience center/children's musuem would be complete without a water table. Always a good time!

Presenting the newest astronaut - Do you think NASA will allow him to go to the moon?

Building a fire, Falls and a resuce

Cunningham Falls State Park

The kids making a fire. J thought were going camping and needed a fire to roast hot dogs and mashmallows! He even carried a BIG stick all the way down from our hike to put onto his fire.

We hiked up to Cunningham Falls.

Canoe rides

Rocking the boat for the boys.
It tipped over.
A rescure was in order.

Fun in the Sun

The Beach at Fenwick Island in Delaware was just perfect.
We had some calm water moments followered by HUGE waves - that went over our kids heads.

Fun moments to remember:
-Tom trying to teach J how to swim with the waves (as picture shows in the top right corner)
-J running away from the waves
-Trying to fill buckets with water to make sand castles
-J requesting the need for his googles so he could see under the water at all the fishes. Then discovery that it was to dark to see anything.
-K rolling in the sand like it was a big grassy hill to go down
-K being a LITTLE sacred of the BIG LOUD waves
-K loved the sand, J loved the water!