Ear Infection and Double Zoo

Hello!  Things have been going well.  It was a bit of a crazy week with Winry getting an ear infection and the car getting a flat tire, but all in all it was great!  We had a lot of fun, including two trips to the zoo, and a night where I had over 4000 steps when morning began.

On Monday Monica went to the zoo with the kids and a few other families from the ward.  They got to see the sea lion show and the elephant show, and the hyenas were being crazy and playing with the kids like so!  That night when we were getting ready for FHE Brooke did a few warm up laps.  Classic!

The next morning Winry went into her bouncer and started hopping on one foot!  She is growing up so fast!!  Also Brooke put on her Moana costume cause... she does that some days! :)

Tuesday night Winry did not sleep well at all.  I got a total of 1 hours of sleep, and was up from 11 on holding and rocking her.  We gave her medicine, and it helped and she was able to sleep some, but it was a LONG night for me!  Anyway, I made it through, and sent an email in to work to see if I could take the day off, and got it.  That was also nice because on Wednesday we had someone come over to look at our basement to estimate finishing, and two companies scheduled to come look at our Aspen trees that were decomposing.  The company that came in the morning  quoted a good price and told us they were willing to squeeze us in and take down the trees right away since it was an emergency and there was a tree just waiting to fall at any time.  Jelly really enjoyed watching them take down the trees!

And here's the hole where the trees were.  Also, no stump grinding, the trees were completely rotted down there and just broke right out of the ground.

Throughout the day we saw Winry grab her ear a few times, so we called to get an appointment to see if she had an ear infection, and they said they had an opening in 15 minutes, so Monica took off with Winry, and I took Brooke to the park.  When we got to the park there was this little mobile library thing.  I guess it's a book swap kind of thing.  Pretty cool idea.

Brooke and bear enjoyed swinging together, and Brooke took bear all around the playground.  It was a lot of fun, and it was a really nice day so it was great to be outside.  When we finished at the park we took the long way home because it was rush hour, and we needed to use the cross walk.

Winry did have a near infection, and we started her on medicine that night.  She's been doing much better now.  She's eating again like normal, and she even slept great last night!

The next morning Brooke and Winry had a grunt battle.  Winry also did some peeking out of her crib when it was nap time!

Monica made Brooke's Moana flower crown this past week, and it looks SOO good!

Also, we found this sweater and hat this past week, and Brooke loves it.  We had a cold spell, and Brooke wore this jacket almost every day.

On Friday we had a fire in our back yard for dinner, here are the girls getting ready for dinner!

And here I am cooking 5 hot dogs at once!

And of course we had some smores!  The marshmallows were pretty hard to cook.  There was a cold wind blowing through, so if I was like 2 inches away from the fire they cooked well, but if it was farther nothing happened due to the wind, and if it was closer the marshmallows caught fire.  Yeah... I had some slow cooking marshmallows suddenly catch fire...

Saturday morning we headed to the zoo, and they are starting to decorate for Halloween.  They had a bunch of these pumpkin groups carved as animals, and this one was the headless horseman!

Brooke checked to see if she was taller than a penguin yet, and I think it was a success!

When we went to the gorillas we saw the mother with her baby!  They were so cute together!  The baby even started playing with a rope that was under the straw matting, and the mother ripped it out and threw it away from them!  She looked a little annoyed...

We went to an area we typically don't, in fact I didn't even know it was there.  There were some drums there too and Brooke enjoyed playing them.

Monica had to change Winry's diaper, and Brooke being an opportunistic quickly laid in the car seat.  Apparently this is the most comfortable way to lay...

On the say home we got a flat tire and ended up on the left side of the freeway.  We were stuck there for about 40 minutes before there was a gap large enough for us to get across to the right and actually change our tire.  We also called the police department and asked for help, and got over just a few minutes before he arrived.

The kids did pretty well with it.  Winry slept through everything, and Brooke was promised that she would get a reward if she was good and suddenly got very happy!  She also got to color while she waited.

I got the tire loosened and the car jacked up before our help arrived.  He helped me get the spare back on, and unsurprisingly the spare was flat, so he pumped that up for us!  Guess we should check the air pressure in our spare tire more often (and you should too!).

Anyway, at this point we were all set, and we also were fortunate enough to be about 200 feet from the next off ramp.  Here we are getting ready to take off.

And here's Luna safely back at home.

Once we were home it was time to get on with the day!  We headed to get groceries for dinner, and then when we got home Monica made pizza dough and I went out with the kids to play in the back yard.  While we were out there Winry got a turn on the swing, and Brooke LOVES to push her!

Here is our pizza cooking up in our pizza oven!

And here it is done!  We made a pesto one, a green chili one, and a thai one.  I'm sure Monica will fill in a few more details here -> ()... unless she's too tired.

We ate in the back yard and had a "picnic."  Brooke was super excited!  And the pizza was great.

This morning I needed to get something out of a drawer, and Jelly was walking by as I did.  She promptly jumped into the space in the back... so I guess that drawer just doesn't close any more.

This morning Monica was going through a box of baby clothes the next size up and found this hat for Winry!  She looks ready for the snow!  I kind of wish there was snow today so I could have taken the kids out to play...

At church we had graham crackers for a snack, and Winry does great eating them on her own!  We just found this out Friday night when she had a graham cracker instead of a s'more.

Look at her feeding herself!  She's really enjoying it!  It's actually really nice she can feed herself something bigger like that that takes a while to eat.  However, when she gets to the end she's always got handfuls of mush...  Not the cleanest of snacks.

After church we got home the same time as the neighbors, and Brooke wanted to go over and use their swing.  After talking for a while it came up that Brooke was going to be Moana for Halloween, and they said we could borrow their Pua stuffed animal.  Well, one thing led to another, and now we've got Elsa as well.  Thanks Ellie!!

Anyway, Brooke had to give them all check-ups to make sure they were healthy on arrival.  Don't want to get the rest of the clan sick!  Brooke also brought out toys for them to play with, and the astute observer may notice that the red thing is Brooke's sock!!  What a toy!

I just got back from helping a friend in the ward, Bowen Call, with moving a recliner.  He just had surprise open heart surgery on Friday, he's only 23, and it's painful to sleep laying down, so I helped move the recliner into their bedroom.  I'm really glad he called me because I had a great time visiting with them.  They are wonderful people, and definitely a lot of fun to be around.  I'm also glad they called so I could have the opportunity to serve.  There were a lot of lessons that hit home tonight.  One is that life is short, and we need to make the most of it because we never know when things can go crazy/change.  Another is the joy of service and being able to help those in their time of need.  Another, for me at least, is to try to be more friendly and open, because you never know when you'll meet someone you really enjoy spending time with.  I am really glad they called me to come help, it was definitely a highlight of my evening.  I would encourage everyone to look for ways you can reach out and serve your fellow man.  You never know what impact your service may have.  I hope you all do good, and feel good through this upcoming week.  Have a good one!

Cookie Party

Hello all!  Things went great this past week.  I hope everyone else is doing great as well!  Winry has started to get up on her hands and knees, and she slides all around the floor!  I think she'll be crawling soon!  However, sometimes she gets herself stuck... like when she backed herself under Jelly's scratching arch...

Anyway, on Monday everyone went for a walk while I was at work.  There is a house in our neighborhood that has lawn flamingos.  They used to have 2, but now they have 8!  Anyway, Brooke loves them, and I believe I shared a video of her petting them before.  One day when we were on a walk we stopped to look at them and his dogs were barking so he came to the door to see why and told Brooke she go could pet them if she wanted, so now we always have to go that way and see the flamingos!  On Monday they were hungry, but luckily Brooke found some yummy leaves for them to eat!

Monday after work we were playing in the back yard and Brooke picked a dandelion.  It was pretty long, so when she brought it to me I made it into a bracelet for her!  I think she liked it for like... a half a second and then asked me to take it off.

After dinner we decorated cookies to take to our ministering families.  Brooke had a lot of fun decorating and did a great job!  She picked all the frosting colors (Orange, pink, purple and green) and really liked to spread the frosting with a knife!  Also, Monica got out all the cookie cutters, but we basically only have Christmas ones.  Oh well!  I really wanted to decorate cookies!

Here are the cookies she decorated!  Also, if you're thinking "Hey! Alex ministers to me and I didn't get my cookies!" that's because nobody did...  We didn't have paper plates, so we were going to go buy some... and eating cookies all week later there aren't enough left now...  Maybe next time! :)

This past week Winry started drinking form a cup.  She's doing a great job with it so far, though she still gets surprised every time she gets water!  She's doing so great eating as well, and eats at least some of what we're having for basically every meal.

At dinner on Wednesday Brooke wanted to read Baby Bear.  Honestly, if I didn't know she couldn't read I'd think she read that book!  She also corrects me all the time when I'm reading stories if I say the wrong word.

This week in preschool was the letter C.  Brooke was really excited to show me all the crafts she made, and did a pretty great job tracing some circles.  Anyway, Monica was looking for enrichment ideas, and I came up with the idea of going to the candy factory!  So Monica set up a tour for Thursday, and Adley even joined them!  Here they are all looking at the candy being made through the window!  I think Brooke really liked it, and even got to pick a candy at the end!  Also, you get free broken candy canes for taking the tour, and I'm excited to try some of those.  I don't remember the flavors anymore...

Friday morning Winry was playing with Jelly!  I sadly didn't get a video of when Jelly was actually playing with the feathers.  Brooke came to help her, slipped and fell right next to Jelly and scared her away, and she came back under the table.  Winry was having a lot of fun shaking the stick, and I don't think she even realized that Jelly was there watching the whole time!

Winry continued scooting on Friday, and backed into a wall!  But she's plenty happy about it.

Monica also took some 8 month pictures of Winry this past week.  I had to hold Winry away from the flowers while Monica got ready to take pictures.  Monica started snapping as soon as I let her go, and Winry immediately turned to the flowers.

Reached....!!!

And snatched!

She was super happy while taking pictures too!  And I think she's had enough food to know that those flowers don't actually taste good, because I didn't see her put any in her mouth this time.  That's probably a good thing, but those pictures were crazy cute!

In church today we had a lesson about ministering and revelation.  It was a great lesson.  One of my favorite comments was that with ministering we are starting to live a higher law.  With ministering, it is not that we no longer need to visit those we serve like we did with home teaching, but instead we are now being asked to meet with them MORE!  We're asked to truly get to know those we serve and know them well enough to receive revelation for how we can help them!  I know I definitely need to work on that, I mean this past week I ate several families worth of cookies!  But in all seriousness, it is very important to build our community, both in the church and out.  We are heading into the last days, and in these troubling times we will need to have each other to rely on and support one another.  I encourage everyone to reach out and look for opportunities to serve those around you.  In the name of Jesus Christ, amen.

Best Friend Sisters!

Hello everyone!  I hope you are all doing fantastic.  We had a  good week out here!  We've been decently busy during the day, and Winry got sick toward the end of the week with a stuffy nose so she hasn't really been able to sleep at night with a pacifier.  That's led to some LOOONG nights...  But in the day, best friend sisters!!

This past week Winry went to visit Dr. Brooke!  Technically Winry wasn't sick at this point, or at least I don't think she was.  But still, Brooke is a great vet, and sometimes that skill also extends to humans!  To be honest, I think it's a lot of fun when Brooke plays doctor!

I probably haven't mentioned this, but Brooke wants to be Moana for Halloween, and her costume came this past week!  She was so excited she had to wear it, and she's worn the grass skirt that came with it a few times, and she wears her necklace every day!

Tuesday Brooke had preschool again, and this weeks lesson was focused on B, and ironically, taught by Baylee! (uhhhh....)  Monica said Brooke was super great and listened the whole time and participated.

Winry however tried to slip under the couch for some alone time!  Fortunately Monica caught her before she escaped!

On Tuesday Monica had a real hard time on the diet we were on (not because of the food, because of the time commitment!), so we decided to cancel and have pizza for dinner.  To be honest, I think the diet is a very healthy way to eat and I'm sure it would help, but it was a lot more work than we expected, and we were not prepared for that.  Monica basically spent all day cooking or prepping food, etc. so we decided now was not a great time, but that it was a great time for pizza!

That night we taught Brooke how to hula dance!  Winry loves it when Brooke dances in front of her and will just stare with a huge grin on her face or smile!  I'm so glad Winry and Brooke love each other so much!  I think Brooke can cheer Winry up better than Monica and I at times!

On Wednesday for preschool enrichment Brooke and Eden headed to the butterfly pavilion.  Monica said it was really cool, and everyone had a great time.  There was a wind tube thing, and you could put little dragonflies into the bottom and then they blew out the top.  Monica said Brooke could have stayed here all day.

In another place they held something that looked a lot like a worm.  I think Monica said those things actually grow into beetles.  I have no clue what it is...  but Brooke held it!

Winry and Royal had fun chilling on the floor in the kid playground area while everyone explored.  They did a great job keeping each other company.

On Wednesday my blog book arrived!  This book is just the blog from 2015.  This was my surprise project from a few weeks ago, in case any of you remember me mentioning that.

I spent a bunch of time looking online at sites that converted blogs to books, but I didn't like the end formatting of any of them.  They either did weird things like thumbnail all the pictures down the side of the page, or just didn't let you control the output well enough.  So I wrote a python script that would crawl my blog and download my blog articles and pictures and write them all into a LaTeX file.  LaTeX was a program I used in college, and you use it for laying out papers, etc.  So I set up LaTeX to output the blog post information in a way that fit the publishers requirements, and resized the pictures to try to minimize pages but still have good sized pictures.  Here's what the book looks like on the inside!

And that cover?  I made a collage of all the pictures I took in the year (2015) to put on the cover.  I'm very happy with the results, so I ordered a book for 2016 and 2017 this past week as well.  They should be here in about 2 weeks!

Winry has started to like books a lot.  We have a bunch of books that are "that's not my ..." style, and the animals in them all have something feelable.  Things like a furry spot, or a rough spot, or a bumpy spot.  She loves to feel those books.  Brooke got a book called Stack the Cats from the library, and Winry LOVES to look at that one, even though there's nothing to feel!  Also, when she was sitting there she just totally zoned out, that's what I was really taking a picture of.

Friday morning was full of Brooke giving Winry raspberries!  On Friday we didn't have anything to make a sandwich with, which ended up nice because everyone came to work for a picnic!  Here's Winry loving her first tastes of peanut butter and jelly.  Brooke and I also ran to those bushes in the background several times.

And Winry got up to crawl!  She did't actually crawl, but she's getting close.  She gets up on her hands and knees all the time!

My dad also happened to be in town and dropped some stuff off at our house.  There was some great school work from when I was a kid in there.  This beauty was from second grade (because I recognize my teachers name).  This was when I was really good at spelling my siblings names.  Names like tisin (Tyson), cilast (Celeste), jirosha (Jerusha), niki, oria (Oriah), Spencer and cat!  Spelling pro!

Friday night was the worst of Winry's stuffy nose, and she just couldn't sleep!  Poor little girl, if she sucked on her pacifier she couldn't breathe, so instead she'd just cry.  I think I maybe slept for 4.5 hours that night, and I know I was in her room holding and rocking her for at least 2 hours straight at one point.  Saturday morning Monica wanted to go the Relief Society temple trip, so what do you do with two kids and little sleep?  Go running!  The run got cut short when Winry started crying, so we turned around and I had to bounce the stroller the whole way back to keep her happy.  We started from a park so we could go play for a while after our run.  Brooke and Winry love swinging with each other!

Also on Saturday Jelly laid on Brooke's lap for a while and got pet!  I think Jelly is started to trust Brooke a lot more and is more comfortable around here, and Brooke has done AMAZING with Jelly lately.  She loves to pet her and scratch her back!

After the BYU football game where we beat #6 Wisconsin (WOO HOO!!!!!) we wanted to take a family picture in our BYU shirts, and Brooke got the phone and wanted to take pictures.  I really liked this one she took of herself with Kalani!

And here we all are together as a family.  Brooke did not take this one (you can tell because there isn't a finger partly over the lens.

Also on Saturday Brooke and I built this castle!

Also on Saturday night I switched out our faucet on our kitchen sink!  Here's the new one.  My dad also dropped this off when he stopped by.  My parents got a new faucet because they thought theirs leaked, but when they went to switch it the tubes were just loose!  Don't worry, their new one is still nicer than this.

And to help you remember here's our old one.  I forgot to take a before picture, but luckily we dye Easter eggs, and it was incidentally in the background!

Well, I think that catches you all up!  Have a great week!