Yosemite-June 2018

Picked up Jay from the airport on the way out of town

I haven't blogged in so long.  Who knows  if I will get to again, so I thought I would go for it. I had the opportunity-incredibly last minute-to go to Yosemite with my Dad, Jeremy and his family, and Jay and Emily (2 of my brothers and one of my sisters).  We went there a couple of times as children.  My dad on the other hand went there many many times as a child and teenager.  I was very hesitant to go because going entailed taking Walter with me-who still nurses and I wasn't wanting to suddenly wean him.  So in about 36 hours time, I packed up Walter and me and we headed out carpooling with my dad, Emily, and Jay.

On the Road-headed to Yosemite

I had no idea how Walter would do camping-he's an amazingly good baby, but I had not slept with him in a sleeping bag in the cold.  Well, it was supposedly going to be cold, but he and I were never really cold-we thought it was pretty darn hot.  Anyway, he was amazing and awesome and I actually loved cuddling with him. Originally I thought it was going to be hiking in the day here and there and hanging out at the campsite in the evenings and possibly some in the day. Boy was I wrong.  Yosemite has so many hikes and views that you don't have any time for campground jollies.  We only made a fire the last night just for the sake of making a fire.  What we learned was that if you aren't staying in the valley, you needed to be there around 9am to get a parking space.  Then the hikes we did were generally very long and by the time we got done and back to our campground it was usually 9pm.  We were at the Wawona campground, which is about an hour away from the Valley.  The Valley has shuttles to the places you need to get to, so you find a parking space and then shuttle to where you need to be.  Walter and I stayed in our own little tent-which I was nervous about at first, but it worked out great.

Old Nevada Pizza in Hawthorne Nevada

You can't tell in the pic, but the tables were the shape of the state of Nevada

So on to the trip-we stayed in a hotel in Hawthorne Nevada on our way down.  It was a tiny little town that we were sure the movie Cars was based off of.  There were a total of 2 places you could eat there.  One was a casino type diner and the other was a pizza place.  The diner had over an hour wait for food.  The pizza place had great reviews, so we went over there...and it was only a 40 minute wait-ha ha.  Boy do they know how to make pizza though!  It was legit homemade, with fresh toppings and looked gorgeous and it was super delicious!  We had a blast paying games together-Dad was hilarious as we played phase 10.  I forgot he can't shuffle cards very well and he struggles with organizing his cards.  After waiting for him to get his cards organized for while to start a hand, Jay asked him if he needed help and he peaked over at Dad's hand and exclaimed, "How are you organizing those?!?!"  Dad gave the best answer, looked at his hand, started laughing and said, "Randomly?"

Entrance into Yosemite

Walter and I at the Tunnel View

Lookout point on the road to Glacier Point or Wawona (Tunnel View)

The next day, Sunday, we arrived in Yosemite-it was quite majestic.  I hadn't realized that it was all granite and huge bolders and mountain range of granite.  It wasn't as green as I thought it was going to be, but it was really amazing.  We drove through the valley to get to our campsite.  We got to our site and got set up as quickly as we could so that we could head back to the valley.  We started off by doing a simple hike to Bridal Veil Falls (not to be confused with the one up Provo Canyon).  It was a very simple walk to a beautiful waterfall.  Then we headed over to hike Lower Yosemite falls.  It's really more of a nice walk to a very majestic and beautiful water fall-we went there again on our last day-it was Dad's favorite and he loved going to it.

Bridal Veil Falls

Monday morning, a bird was sure to wake us up a little before 5am. That was ok though because we had a lot to prepare and I did everything I could to take care of Walter and not to keep anyone waiting on us.  We were doing the Panorama Trail-supposedly an 8 mile hike that was mostly downhill.  You start at Glacier Point, which is about a 45 minute drive from the Valley up above the valley.  There are several hikes from that point.  The Panorama Trail begins there and you hike back down to the Valley.  I was really nervous packing Walter as I am not in great shape at this point in my life.  I had hiked it one other time as a young teen with my dad, grandpa, a couple uncles and cousins.  I didn't really remember much from that and was excited to be there again.

Panorama Trail hike

It was a really neat hike.  It was really fun to hear Dad talk about the hike and point out the views and what we were looking at.  He clearly knows Yosemite well.  He was like a giddy school boy.  I loved the different views and I loved loved Nevada Falls.  It was so amazing, raging full, huge, and majestically.  You really just can't tell how majestic it is unless you are there. Walter was adorable and would wave to people and smile and kick his legs and make cute noises.  People thought it was pretty awesome that I was hiking with him. Going down the path from Nevada falls to Vernal falls was the hardest part for me.  I think mostly because I was carting a baby and the trail was large rocks with sand around them and quite slippery.  By the time we got to Vernal falls, I was actually really struggling physically.  I was out of energy and realized I had not been drinking or eating enough.  I felt we had gone more than 8 miles already.  I sate, ate, got regenerated and decided I needed to just move forward as quickly as possible to get to the bottom or I wasn't going to make it.  So I did.  And I would stop here and there for amazing views.  I was blessed and able to get down safely and quickly.  Though I kept wondering when we were going to get to the end of the hike-my legs were so so tired of going downhill (as most of the hike is downhill and going down granite steps or rocks).  We finally arrived and I nursed little Walter who had been awesome, but gotten a very sore bum and was also a little famished.  It was an awesome and amazing hike, but it was very hard (as most things worth doing in life are).  Everyone was exhausted as we all arrived at the bottom within about 40 minutes of each other.  The hike was longer and harder than we all expected.  And we came to learn something about Yosemite-the term "Yosemite miles" became a common phrase.  Pretty much on all the hikes the miles are way off- less than what it really is.  Everyones GPS watches stated that we had hiked 11.4 miles.  We thought those "8 miles" took longer than it should have.

Panorama Trail-lunch break

Dad taking a pic.  We ate lunch on these huge rock slabs in this river

On the bridge over Nevada Falls

Raging Nevada Falls

Lookout next to Nevada Falls

Panorama Trail hike

Vernal Falls

Panorama Trail-awesome dome next to Half Dome

We now had a problem though-our vehicle was at Glacier Point.  We were tired, it was getting late and we wanted to get to camp.  Rosanne (Jeremy's wife) had their mini-van and small kids with her in the Valley. The original plan was for Rosanne to drive Dad or Jay up to Glacier Point and then they come back down and get us. That would take about 2 hours-and then we would still have to go to our campsite-3 hours.  She was so kind and let us all pile into her van along with Jeremy and her other kids and she took us all up to Glacier Point to our vehicle.  I was a little nervous-if we got pulled over we would be in huge trouble.  Jay and Emily got in the trunk.  I was squished on the front bench with 2 other little kids and holding Walter.  Jeremy, their friend and 2 of his kids were on the other bench.  Dad sat in the front.  We were very blessed as we drove to Glacier Point for driving safely-Rosanne is an excellent mountain driver, and because we passed 4 cops on the way that didn't notice-one was following behind us for quite a while and then turned off another way-phew!

All of us squished into Rosannes van

The next morning, Tuesday, my legs were so incredibly sore, I could hardly get up and barely walk-pretty much everyone felt that way as they started getting going for the day.  This was a big day for Dad, Emily, Jay, and Jeremy.  They were hiking Half Dome, there was no way I was going to hike that with a baby-not even sure if I could without a baby.  Rosanne and I were going to take it easy and do simple hikes in the valley.  We hiked to Mirror lake with the kids-it was really fun to play in the water and was a relatively simple hike. We got to camp later than we had planned-8pm. We got a fire going and started getting dinner ready.  We were getting pretty nervous that we hadn't heard back from the Half Dome hikers when 8:30 rolled around.  Though just after we started getting really nervous, they called saying they were on their way-they had all made it to the top-alive!

I loved waking up to my snuggling baby

Wednesday was a day we had planned to go to the Valley, do some laundry, shower (you can pay to do laundry and take a shower) and eat out (they have different restaurants and stores in the Valley).  It was really nice to get a shower and wash some laundry.  We explored a few places in the Valley and looked for some fun souvenirs. We did a little bit of hiking as well.  It was nice to look around and enjoy the Valley-you really could just hang out in the Valley if you aren't a hiker and have a really nice time.

Eating lunch in the Yosemite Village

Eating Haagen Dazs in Half Dome Village

Thursday we were hiking Upper Yosemite Falls (a pretty hard hike) and those that were really tough (Jay, Emily, and Dad) were going to continue on to El Capitan.  My plan was to hike for the first half of Upper Yosemite Falls-to a lookout point.  I wasn't up for a really hard hike carting a baby.  It was a good hike though-I did about 2.2 miles to that point and then headed back down on my own while they continued on. Walter was again, adorable and people loved smiling at and waving at him and he loved it.

Upper Yosemite Falls hike

Upper Yosemite Falls hike

The view from a trail on our bike ride around Yosemite Valley

Bolders along the Lower Yosemite Falls.

When I got to the bottom of the trail, I had the day to do what I wanted in the Valley.  I ended up hiking or walking on over to Lower Yosemite Falls to nurse (found a boulder to sit on a little out of the way).  Then I was really tired of carting Walter.  My back was pretty achey.  I had heard that you could rent bikes and bike around.  So I decided to look into that.  And I rented a bike with a Burley trailer on it (we have the exact same trailer).  It was so nice to take Walter off and put him in the trailer.  Then we went for a bike ride.  My legs needed that too-they were so tired from the hiking and walking and it was good to have a change in movement.  And I loved the bike ride!  That is a great way to see Yosemite!  They have a path you can bike around.  I got to see some incredible views and places as I biked around.  It was really fun-it turned out to be one of my favorite things I did there, and I would highly recommend it.

Walter and I on our bike ride

After I turned my bike in, I found a place to nurse off a trail again and called Jon and the kids and realized I could do a video chat.  So then I walked around a bit and tried to show them the beautiful trail, river, boulders, and whatnot that I was around.  And then I hiked over to Lower Yosemite Falls again to show them that.  I realized I hadn't been taking any pics or videos because carting Walter I just hadn't pulled out my phone much.  So I got some footage for them to see.  It was fun to try to give them a glimpse of the beauty I was in.  Then Jay texted me that he was down the mountain and to head over to the car.  We all went out for Pizza in Half Dome Village and snuck in another shower while we there (you get so so dirty hiking all day).

Walter did great in the backpack!  He loved waving and smiling at people.

Friday was our last day.  It was sobering.  I hate saying goodbye.  We had planned a simplish hike-sentinnel Dome, and Taft Point to see the Fizures.

Glacier Point lookout

This is at the top center of Sentinal Dome. It's showing all the views that you can see from that point.

We started at Glacier Point again.  We discovered they had a nice gift shop there as well and got some yummy icecream after the hike.  Anyway, as we got started, we realized this was going to be a bigger hike than we realized.  We decided we probably had enough fluid and food to continue.  We ended up barely having enough-but we made it.  But I will say it was my favorite of our hikes-well, maybe.  It was for sure super awesome and beautful and majestic!  We ended up doing a large portion of the Pahono trail-which included hiking to senntienal dome, then on to taft point and fizures.  And then we hiked back a different way-doing a loop.  I was very nervous about the fizures and had decided that if it was too scary when we got there, then I would just wait while they went on and came back to me. Well, it was not too scary.  It was super neat.  It was nerve racking in that we were so so high up and on the edges of cliffs, but there was plenty of flatish space around us that you didn't feel too much like you were up high on cliffs.

At the top of Sentinel Dome

Taft point and the fizures were awesome and I couldn't believe that I was brave enough to go up to the edges.  I discovered that without my kids with me, I was much braver than I am when I hike with my kids and they get close to edges and I freak out.  I don't know if I could have hiked taft point with my kids.

By the fissures at Taft Point-someone had hung a hammock across three points over a complete drop off down by the valley

Taft Point-we are on the edge of an extremely high cliff

Standing next to a fizzure at Taft Point

Taft Point

Jay standing at the edge of a fizzure

I loved the huge granite bolders throughout the park. This is on the Pohono trail.

The way back from taft point was a loop and part of the Pohono trail, so a different way than the way we came.  It was my favorite-gorgeous veiws of the Valley along the whole way.  Essentially it was another panorama trail on the opposite side of Yosemite.  Dad loved it too and couldn't resist stopping at any good lookout.

A look out off of Pohono Trail

Here we are at the trailhead after our hike.  Walter was completely out-he did awesome.

Bridge on one of the paths to Lower Yosemite Falls

Dad on our final hike to Lower Yosemite Falls

 It was so fun to see his excitement.  He told us that he had dreampt of returning to Yosemite many times and loved being back. It was awesome to be a part of this trip with him!  I was so glad I had gone because I really almost didn't.

Final hike/walk to Lower Yosemite Falls (you can see upper and lower falls here)

Grandpa/dad with Walter

Walter and I on our last walk to Lower Yosemite Falls

Saturday we got up early and packed up camp as quickly as we could so that we could get on the road as we had to get back to Utah that evening.  It was so sad to leave.  It was such a wonderful trip and I can't wait to take my own children there and show them the many neat things I got to see.

On the way home.

An entry while at Primary Children's on Aug. 2017

It has been quite an adventure since having little Walter. It has been hard on all the kids, but they have been awesome.  A sum up-Walter was life flighted the night of his birth to a higher level NICU due to breathing struggles.  He turned out to have fluid in his lungs as well which turned to pnemonia-which possibly came from Strep B.  That night he was put on several different ventilation items.  In the process somewhere his stomach got filled with air with a misplaced ventilator  This caused his belly to be quite large and distended.  I was quite concerned that it was still distended when he left the NICU 2 weeks later.  They said it would resolve itself via gas and poop.  After 2 weeks of it not resolving and him seeming constipated and then every 2-3 days having explosive, and I mean explosive, poops, and 3 visits to his pediatrician about it, the pediatrician ordered x-rays and a kidney ultrasound.  That was on a Monday.  Tuesday the pediatrician said there was major blockage and it was putting pressure on the kidneys as well.  To rule out Hirschprungs disease, which is in Jon's family and we were worried that it might be what was going on, he ordered an enema procedure where they veiw the colon under an xray.  The technician was pretty positive that Walter had it.  We got a call about 2 hours after the procedure from our pediatrician letting us know that Walter needed to head up to Primary Children's Hospital to have a biopsy and then likely surgery.  They wanted us to head up that evening and get him admitted and on an IV, ready for the biopsy in the morning.  The biopsy results take 24-48 hours to confirm.  The results came back Friday afternoon-the results were positive-he has Hirschsprungs Disease.  They scheduled the surgery for the following Tuesday and were going to send us home, but because of the regular vitals taken while at the hospital, they discovered that Walter had high blood pressure.  That could be due to the pressure of the abdomen on the kidneys and pain.  But they wanted to run some tests and make sure that there wasn't something else going on.  We ended up staying until Sunday afternoon.  They didn't find anything else that was really concerning.  We got to go home for 2 nights before coming back.  So many family members fasted for him and so many family and friends were praying for him.  He did really well the day of the surgery-I was amazed that he stayed calm the whole day. His surgery wasn't until that afternoon and he couldn't nurse after 8.  He did get some pedialyte at 11, but that was it.  I expected him to be super fussy and wanting to eat for the rest of the day.  Instead he was totally calm.  I realized that he was really being helped through the prayers and fasting for him.  They were delayed in surgery so he wasn't taken back until 4:30.  At 9pm the Dr came out and let us know that the surgery went really well and that we would be able to go back and see him soon.  I was so anxious to see my sweet baby.  When we went back he was crying such a sad weak, full of misery cry. It was so heartbreaking to see him in such pain.  I just held him and hurt for him.  He looked up at me and it was so hard to not be able to do anything to make him feel better but hold him.  My poor baby.  We are still at the hospital recovering.  He is doing well overall and we hope to be going home soon.
My other kids have been awesome through all this.  They have had to do a lot on their own and take charge of a lot of things.  I have been away from them quite a bit.  They have visited here once when we were here last week and then once this week.  If we end up spending tonight, they will come again this evening.  My poor little Isabelle went from being my baby to not only being replaced as the baby, but being away from her mom a lot.  It has been very hard on her.  Jon brought her over a couple of days ago and she was so cute and sweet.  I love her little hands and I love to hold them and hold and hug her.
The older kids were looking so forward to having their little brother and helped prepare for him, pick out cute outfits and get his room ready.  Little did we know that he wouldn't be home much to enjoy those things for the first couple months of his life.  He won't fit into some of the cute outfits the kids picked out before he was born.  He will be 7 weeks old tomorrow and he spent the first 2 weeks in the NICU and we have been at Primary Childrens Hospital for 10 days so far.  I hope we get to go home soon (possibly today).
Jon comes to visit each day.  Walter loves his dad so much.  He loves his voice-it is very calming to him.  I think part of the reason it is so calming is because Jon was with Walter at the NICU and talked to him and read to him quite a bit.  I didn't get to hold and nurse him until he was 6 days old.  So all he got before that was us talking to him, singing to him, reading to him, and holding his tiny hand and rubbing his head.
While Jon was here the other day, the kids decided to surprise him and cleaned the whole house, including shining the bathrooms.  They are such thoughtful kids.  They are great helpers and are very responsible.  They are

The Day Our Sweet Isabelle Arrived

So I just found this-unpublished.  Finishing things is not my strong point.  Oh well, I will post it, 3 years later. I am now 7ish weeks away from having another baby, so maybe I'll post about him this year or maybe I'll wait 3 years again, ha ha.  I will have to say that this pregnancy has also been quite miserable, though it is really neat to feel him move and I'm getting very excited to meet him-and Jonathan is ecstatic to be having a brother!  So on to my post from 3 years ago about our dear, sweet Isabelle.

We were so excited to find out we were expecting this past summer (2013)-though also very nervous.  I will admit that it was a hard pregnancy-maybe because I'm older, maybe because I was used to feeling pretty good most of the time, or maybe it really was just making me super miserable, but I felt absolutely awful for the first 25 weeks.  It was a long pregnancy, that's all I can say.  It wasn't so bad for about 8 weeks, and then the end was rough with stomach acid and lack of sleep, but that's for sure normal.  The night before I couldn't sleep. I went into the baby's room and decided to work on some burp clothes I had wanted to make. Aubrey came in. She couldn't sleep either. We talked about the new baby and made the burp clothes together. It was really sweet. I took the kids to school the next morning. The c-section was scheduled for 5pm, getting to the hospital at 3. My kids were going home on the bus with friends. I didn't realize the bus driver would not let them get off on another stop than normal-I got a phone call from the school while I was being admitted saying I needed to pick up my kids because the bus driver wouldn't let them on the bus because they were getting off one stop earlier than normal-same bus, just getting off one stop earlier. I explained that I was in the hospital having my baby and that I had arranged for my kids to get off with their friends one stop earlier than their regular stop. Apparently the bus driver was being a real stickler and saying she wasn't going to allow it. I apologized and explained that I hadn't thought it would be a problem because friends had gone on the bus with my kids before. The bus driver insisted that the district bus supervisor give permission-the school had no authority over her. Anyway, the school secretary said she would work it out, though I was nervous about my kids getting to the homes we had planned out.  I had 2 kids going to one home and I had dropped Amelia off at another home where Mariah had a friend she was coming home on the bus with. I was good friends with both the mom's. I called them both to let them know the situation and they said they would let me know as soon as they had my kids. So that was a nice way to start out my delivery-ha ha.

I do not enjoy being prepped for a c-section, but I always do appreciate my anesthesiologist.   Mostly you just feel a lot of pressure and i all Jon how it's going.  I heard little Isabelles cry right as they ppulled her out.  Out was so precious  and I couldn't wait to see and hold her. I think it is so dear to be able to hold your baby as soon as she comes out. My Dr. knew this and was so good to me and laid her on my chest and I got to talk to her and touch her for a minute before they checked vitals and whatnot.  Then they brought her to me as soon as I was out of surgery.  That's the hard part about a c-section, probably the hardest. Finishing up and getting out of surgery to a room where you can really hold your baby.  I loved holding her close and starting to nurse. It was so precious. I think after having a miscarriage I was more attached to her. (I was the same way with Amelia-didn't let her out of my site and hardly put off my hands).  I kept her not only in my room my entire stay, but tucked into my shirt on the hospital bed and we just cuddled and rested together. The whole time.  It was really really sweet.

Hand Quilting

I've wanted to teach my kids how to hand quilt for a long time.  One of the main reasons we started homeschooling was to be able to do projects and activities as a family.  I have had this piece of fabric for a long time and figured this would be a great item to learn on, as the kids have also been learning their states &

capitals.  Hand sewing (along with many other hands-on activities) supposedly helps with hand writing and in helping with brain connections vital for reading and comprehension. If that's true, great!  But my main reason was the fond memories I have of hand quilting with my mom and sisters-visiting, watching movies, and enjoying each others company while we accomplished something neat together.

September 2014

Amelias Birthday!

Amelia had her first friend party-which was super cute! We made homemade pizza and a cupcake horse. Great grandma and grandpa came it's always fun to have grandparents on your birthday! They were both so impressed with how much Jon helped with the party-and he did! Having a baby this year has given me more opportunity to rely on Jon and the kids for help and they have just been awesome! Aubrey and Amelia made the cutest pin the tail on the donkey game. Then we did the typical treasure hunt-kids always love that. They loved the pizza and Amelia and I had a great time making her cupcake horse cake together before the party. I think she had a great 4th birthday!

Here's the birthday girl ready to pop her 4 balloons-birthday tradition to pop as many balloons as you are turning and there will be a nice surprise inside.

Aubrey drew the outline and Amelia colored it. The kids each colored their own tail.

Funny faces!

Little dishes with little food-it's become a birthday tradition!

And I don't know how to move this picture down, so here is me making one of Jons favorites-scones (with honey butter of course).

Aubrey sewed a spider man, batman and hulk for Amelia. She loves those characters. She also got woody, which she also loves.

Horse shaped cake with cup cakes. Amelia loved helping frost it.

We did ab ripper for family home evening. It was hilarious!

Canned pinto beans.

Amelia folding laundry-she's such a good helper.

Isabelle taking a bath in the kitchen sink. And below she is sitting up and staying up on her own for the first time.

I was really into trying new homemade food this month. We did homemade egg noodles-which were amazing! I don't I will ever buy them again! Here they are in chicken noodle soup-homemade of course and delicious!

This was a fun find! I can't believe how many things I have found on the street for free! I was taking the kids to school and saw a huge free TV. I wanted to stop and get it but the kids didn't want to be late for school so I hurried to drop them off, came back and it was still there. I got it into the can-which I discovered I had to fold the seats to make it fit anyway so it wouldn't have worked to get it before dropping off the kids anyway. Jon was super surprised! It does have pixels on it, but it's better than our old TV and it's fun to have such a huge TV!

Here is our adorable Isabelle! She is really trying to copy faces we make. This is one of our favorites.

And of course this is adorable too!

So we got into homemade pizza hut pan pizza-deliciousness!

Everyone made their own.

Really LOVE homemade ice cream! A LOT!

And it's also amazing on chocolate waffles with homade carmel and chocolate sauce!

Homemade pasta noodles with the most amazing sauce-recipes found from the pioneer woman.