Chicago, a Birthday, and Surgery

Last week was our spring break and Dave's parents came into town and we went over to Chicago for a couple of days. We had a lot of fun even though our trip was so short. The weather was PERFECT (we really lucked out) and we visited Shedd's Aquarium one day and went to Navy Pier the second day. The one night we were in Chicago I was able to see Wicked again with Dave's parents. It was GREAT and I still highly recommend it to anyone who hasn't seen it yet! For all you friends in AZ - my sis. just let me know that it is coming to Gammage in about a year and tickets go on sale this summer so check it out! Here are some of our pict. from Chicago.

Rare family photo at the aquarium

We even got to watch the Dolphin Show!

Lauren at Navy Pier

Lauren, Dave and Grandma Folsom at Navy Pier

I love this pict. of Lauren at Navy Pier

Chicago Skyline

After we got home Dave had his surgery on his leg! His surgery went well but unfortunatley we had to stay in the hospital longer than we had hoped. He needed a PICC for his IV meds. he has to take for the next 6 weeks and his surgery was Fri. afternoon and there is no PICC Team over the weekend so we had to stay until Mon. to get his PICC and then the Dr's couldn't decide what meds. they wanted him on until too late in the afternoon to get it all set up with Home Health so we got to stay another night. Needless to say he was very glad to come home yesterday afternoon after 4 nights in the hospital! He is doing pretty good - just very sore and tired. We live by the clock and the next dose of pain meds. So the plan is IV meds. for 6 weeks and then another surgery to do another bone graft and hopefully kick this blasted infection out of his bone for good!

While Dave was in the hospital we celebrated Lauren's 4th Birthday and Easter! She had a lot of fun since Grandma and Grandpa were here to play with her. They took her to Chucky Cheese's one day and to Build-A-Bear and the Children's Museum another day. She loved all her new toys and we are now learning how to ride a bike! Now I just need to find us a very flat stretch of cement so we can practice this whole riding a bike thing! She loves wearing her helmet though and was really bummed we didn't have knee pads and elbow pads too. Lauren's birthday was also Easter and after having spent all day at the hospital and making a birthday cake, the Easter Bunny was a little too tired to do a big egg hunt so instead all of Lauren's goodies were in her basket and she had to go on a little treasure hunt to find the basket. She had fun and she loves telling anyone who will listen that the bunny did not hide her eggs, he hid her whole basket!

Opening her new Barbie from Grandma

In her Easter Dress (thank you grandma!). I hung streamers for her birthday and she wouldn't come out from behind them for a decent photo!

Lauren and her birthday cake! She really wanted a purple Barbie Cake so here is the finished product. Not bad for just about 1 1/2 hours of total decorating time.

Update

Well - it looks like this is about to be our home away from home again. Those of you who live in Iowa will recognize it but for those of you who aren't lucky enough to live in Iowa, this is The University of Iowa Hospital and Clinics. Unfortunately Dave's leg started hurting again a couple of weeks ago and that is never a good sign. We have met with his surgeon and had x-ray's taken and it looks like the infection in his leg has come back AGAIN and they are going to go in and clean it out again. Of course this is very painful for Dave and he is very aware of how long it will take him to recouperate (having been through this so many times before) and start getting around again but we do consider ourselves very lucky to have such great Dr.'s so close and Dave has a great department at school who have told him to just take care of himself and they will cover the classes he teaches! And luckily last month he took and passed his major comps. so that is out of the way and he can work on his dissertation from home. So we are hopeful that he can stay on top of things from home and when he starts getting around better, he can start to go to campus more. Dave's parents were already planning on coming out to play with us this week for Spring Break so they are still coming and we are even going to go to Chicago for a couple of days still (Dave says the aquarium and museum's should have wheel chairs he can sit in and we can just push him around)! We are excited to go and see Chicago since all we have seen are the airports! Then he will have his surgery on Fri. and hopefully be home by Sunday. He would like to be home for Lauren's birthday and Easter! Luckily she will have her Grandparents here to play with her and keep her happy.
We will keep you posted on how everything turns out! We would really like to get this infection beat once and for all! We appreciate everyone's support and help - we are very lucky to have such good friends and family!

Speedy Typing

I saw this on someone else's blog and thought I would give it a try since I like to type. I think I did okay for only trying it a couple of times but it would have been nice to try to beat 90 words a minute! So check it out and see how fast you can type!

89 words

Speed test

P.S. I totally beat Dave - he got 60wpm (not bad).

Just Hanging Out

It has been so long since I updated our blog because we have just been hanging out - trying to survive the cold! February lived up to it's horrible reputation for being cold, snowy, and just plain miserable. But we have still managed to find some fun things to do this month. Of course there is always preschool!


This is Lauren and two of her little preschool buddies, Anna and Anne. The girls were my little "Chef's" and we made Peanut Butter and Jelly Muffins and Rice Crispy Treats. The girls loved wearing their Chef hat's and aprons.


After being stuck inside the house all day I was trying to find a way for Lauren to get rid of some of her pent up energy so I had her jump on my bed. She had fun but she is pretty timid - she does not like to jump high or be crazy but she jumped for awhile!


We have also gone to the North Liberty Rec. Center for the Friday Tot Swim. It is just $1 and they have lots of fun toys for the kids to play with and the kiddie part of the pool only gets to 3 feet deep. The kids have a great time playing with their friends and doing something different.


Some of the kids enjoying the fun swimming!

One night Lauren came up to me and asked me to play Pirates with her. We had a lot of fun and cut out swords and she had me draw a mustache and beard on her face and we spent the night looking for treasures! It is a lot of fun to see what fun things she comes up for us to do.

So there you have it - this is basically what we have been up to. Saturday we went down to Nauvoo and that was great. The temperature even made it to the mid 40's and so Lauren and I were playing at the playground while Dave was in the Temple. And of course we went and looked out at the frozen Mississippi River and talked about how cold and hard it must have been for the pioneers to leave their beautiful homes in Nauvoo and to walk off into the unknown. We love being in the Nauvoo Temple District and being able to visit there often.

We do have some fun things coming up this month - Spring Break is in two weeks, Yeah! Dave's parents are coming out to visit us for the week and we will be going to Chicago for a couple of days. We are really excited to go and see Chicago since all we have really seen of it so far are the airports! And Lauren turns 4 this month! I can't believe I am about to have a big 4 year old. She is soooo excited and can't wait for her Barbie cake and is constantly telling us things she wants for her birthday. And of course there is Easter too. Lauren's birthday is actually on Easter this year so that will be a really fun day for her. So hopefully we will have some better blogs coming up!

Playing in the Snow

This past week we had a big snow storm! We have lived here for 4 1/2 years now and this was the biggest snow storm I can ever remember us having. Everything was closed or cancelled, even the University of Iowa cancelled all their classes. But poor Dave was already on campus for the day. It worked out well though because he didn't have to teach his afternoon class and he just stayed in his office all day working on things he needed to do. I was a little nervous about him actually making it home though. There was so much snow outside cars were getting stuck just trying to drive in front of our condo. When the snow finally did stop I went out and shoveled out our parking spot for Dave so he could have a place to put his car when he got home and we had more than a foot of snow in our spot!

Since we obviously couldn't go anywhere during the stnow storm Lauren and I made valentine cupcakes and after it stopped snowing we walked over to some neighbors to share them and that was quite the adventure. I had Lauren all decked out in her boots and snow pants and big jacket and hat but there was just SO much snow she couldn't even walk! She just kept falling over everytime she tried to take a step. She thought the snow was fabulous though and couldn't wait to get out and play in it so the day after the storm Dave took her out and played with her for over an hour out in the snow. I had left to pick up a friend at the airport and when I got home they were nowhere to be found but since Dave's car was parked out front I knew they must be close so I headed outside with the camera and I found them having lots of fun. Even though I wasn't quite dressed to play in the snow I joined in some of the sledding. I really wanted to take Lauren out to go sledding at the park today but the weather is getting colder and I didn't want to have her out in it for too long! It is supposed to be BITTER by tomorrow! I was just listening to the weather and it said tonight we would have windchills of 20-40 degrees BELOW ZERO! The sad thing is we have church tomorrow at 9am so when we leave for church that is about how cold it will be! I sure hope my car starts after church is over tomorrow (it didn't last time it was this cold)!




Nothing else to exciting is going on. I do get to go on a hot date with my husband tonight so that will be fun. And tomorrow Lauren gives her first talk ever in primary. We have been practicing and practicing all week so hopefully she won't be too nervous tomorrow when she has to stand in front of all the kids and say it for real!

Bubble Gum = Happiness

Today Lauren got this in a package from some of her cousins in Arizona.

Anyone who knows Lauren well knows that she will do almost anything for a piece of bubble gum. It was her absolute favorite reward when she was potty training and now we use it as a reward for waking up dry each morning and for other things. She was so excited when she saw the gum I told her if she ate all her lunch we could open it up. I really think that was the fastest she has ever eaten her lunch. So I told her she could pick three pieces and she picked yellow, red, and green. A little later I asked her how her gum was and she said good and then took it out to look at it and said, "Hey, yellow and red and green make pink!" Can you tell we have been learning what happens when we mix our paint colors?

A little later she came and asked me if I wanted to cuddle with her and I said of course. So we jumped in bed and got under the big blankets and I told her that her breath smelled so yummy, just like Skittles! And she said, your breath not smell yummy like Skittles (leave it to a 3 year old to let you know your breath stinks). She then asked if I wanted gum too and I said no, maybe later I would go and get some but then she said no Mom, I share with you. And she proceeded to take her gum out of her mouth and pull it into two pieces so that I too could have some yummy, pre-chewed Skittles Gum. That's my girl - always willing to share what she's got with someone in need!

Baby, it's cold outside!

What have we been up to this week? We have been trying to keep warm! This is our fifth winter in Iowa and I really think this is the coldest one yet! We have had negetaive temperatures almost everyday for the last week straight. I think it was -15 or -20 this morning. Lauren has been having fun playing in all the snow we have though. We got a couple of inches last week and another 4 inches or so this week. So there is a nice amount of snow on the ground to play in. We bought a pair of snow bib's, snow boots, and a sled and she has had fun sledding and earlier this week she and her friend Andrew had a great time running around his yard having a snowball fight and just playing. I am amazed at how long she can last in the snow. Last week we played out in the snow for an hour and I was the one who was freezing and ready to go in and she was just fine staying outside and playing. But I wasn't the one with a nice, cozy snow bib on so I got myself some new thermals and this week when we played in the snow it helped a lot! My legs didn't immediately turn into ice cubes. Now that Lauren is bigger/older it has been so much fun doing these activities with her. When she was younger she would have fun for about 5 min. but then she would get cold and just start crying and be done. And since she still doesn't have any younger brother's or sister's, we don't have any little ones to worry about so we really need to take advantage and just play all we can when we have fun snow to play in. Poor Dave has been so busy with school that he hasn't had a chance to play in the snow with us yet but hopefully that will all change in a couple of weeks! Until then Lauren and I just keep looking for ways to keep ourselves busy.

Lauren and Andrew chasing me with snowballs.

Playing around.

Her favorite face.

Lauren also had her first cavity filled this week. She did amazing and it was fun to have people we know working on her (thanks Garrick and Abby). She didn't fuss at all but I felt bad for poor Garrick trying to keep Lauren from sticking her tongue over in his work space. I am bummed I forgot my camera because she looked so cute sitting in the big chair (on a pillow), holding onto a stuffed animal, with sunglasses on to keep the light out of her eyes.

Look at what I can do!

Today we have just been hanging out at home waiting for the snow to stop and Lauren decided she wanted to draw some pict. and put them in envelopes. She decided she wanted one of the envelopes to be for her so I had her write her name on it and this is how it turned out. Not bad for a 3 year old!

We're Back!

We are finally back in Iowa after spending more than a month in the warm Arizona sun! We had a great time just relaxing with family and being together for the holiday season. We really missed getting to spend some of the holiday's with Dave's family though.

My entire family was in AZ this year (I think ther are 32 of us now) so we had a crowd for Christmas Eve Dinner and Lauren had tons of cousins to play with.

Lauren and her cousin Griffin - just out cruising

Lauren was an angel in the Nativity story on Christmas Eve

We just had a great time relaxing, eating at a lot of our favorite places, attending the Mesa Temple, seeing old friends, playing tons of games, and getting a couple of days away for a anniversary trip to CA! We had such a great time in California. My younger sister and her husband and Dave and I left our kids with Grandma and Grandpa and we went to play for our anniversary's (her 10th, my 7th). We went to LA and saw Wicked and it was AMAZING! Seriously, if you ever get the chance to see it, go. I am already planning on going to Chicago to see it again it was that good!

We also spent a day playing at the Magic Kingdom! Dave and I went to Disneyland on our Honeymoon and hadn't been back since so it was fun to go back and play for a day. Even though it was crazy busy we had a really fun time and we got to do all the rides we really wanted to (thank goodness for fast passes) and got to eat some yummy Churro's! Thanks Tiff for coming up with the fun idea to go to California and thanks everyone who helped watching the kiddo's so we could go and play.

Dave and I in front of Sleeping Beauty's Castle

But after a month of playing it was time for us to come home and get back to "real" life. Lauren was really excited to see her room and all her things after being away for so long. Dave has jumped right back into school and he is off studying most days as well as staying busy with church work. As for me, I am glad to be back and see good friends and it is good to get back into our normal routine but I am not enjoying the cold! This winter just seems so much colder/icier than any of our previous Iowa winters. We have only been back a few days and I am already missing the blue sky and bright AZ sun (as well as all the citrus)! But when Summer hits I will be glad I am in Iowa and not in the blazing AZ heat!

Christmas Party

Tonight was our ward Christmas party. Our ward goes all out and has a nice musical program and a very nice sit down dinner every year and at the end of the evening a very special visitor comes to see all the children. Since Lauren is now 3 she is definitely understanding Christmas a lot better and is very excited about anything that has to do with Santa Clause. She couldn't wait to sit on his lap and tell him she wanted a Barbie for Christmas this year!

Here we are all ready to head out to the party! (The wink was all her doing!)

And here she is finally getting to meet Santa Clause. She was so excited that he knew her name and when he asked what she wanted, she proudly announced she wanted a Barbie!