February has sure been an eventful month so far. Though the groundhog did NOT see his shadow on Groundhog's Day this year, and we're supposed to have Spring soon, it's hasn't panned out that way yet. We've had snow storm after snow storm, and more are expected this week. The whole state of Utah is above water levels, which we haven't seen in years. We've had many other events happen these past couple weeks as well. Here are the highlights.
Conor, Nyles and Carter watching pills turn into sea animals in water.
Carter playing w/ Conor's helmet, then not being able to get it off.
We got together for our family dinner on the 1st Sunday of the month, which was also the Super Bowl. We had it playing in the background while we visited and ate dinner. We then sang Happy Birthday to Ethan and I. Carter of course wanted to blow out the candles for me.
Carter eating his cake, and a cute quote Steve saw and sent to me.
On Wednesday, February 6th we got DUMPED on with snow. Luckily Wednesdays are the days I normally work from home. Steve still needed to get to the hospital for his clinical rotations, but they said he could come in when he could. We also got a call from the school district around 5am stating they'd cancelled school. Many businesses and the Universities cancelled schools, but since Fidelity is a national company, we were still expected to work. Again, thankfully we CAN work from home now, so I'm grateful for that. Steve cleared off the driveway, then took the boys to the neighbors so I could work from home. It literally snowed all day! We got 12 inches of snow, some people in the valley got 24 inches, and the mountains they got up to 5 feet of snow! It was a HUGE snow day!
Steve clearing the driveway.
Luckily we have All-wheel drive w/ our Edge. That was the only way to get around, especially on the side streets and parking lots even. This is the hospital parking for employees.
The trees and bushes were drenched w/ snow!
12 inches on the lawn! That Friday we went to Red Robin for dinner to celebrate my birthday!
Dave, Joann, and Rob met us for dinner as well. The boys love getting balloons there!
After dinner, we went back to our place. I made cookies, we put the kids to bed, then we played a couple rounds of "Cover your Assets" card game. So fun!
On Saturday, February 9th we went sledding as a family.
Steve and Carter enjoying our time sledding, and Nyles hiking back up the hill.
My cute boys!
Carter, my sledding buddy.
Nyles on his sled, following Carter and I down the hill on our "train."
After taking a shower, Carter decided to help brush my hair.
That night we had Rose and Pauline's families over to celebrate my birthday. I cooked up a turkey breast for dinner, then we had cake and ice cream.
Carter and Nyles helping me blow out the candles. After dessert the kids played w/ each other, while we played a couple rounds of "Cover your Assets" again. Love that game!
Carter seemed like he wasn't feeling well towards the end of the night. After Rose and Pauline left, we got him to bed, then Nyles shortly after. Around 11pm, Carter work up w/ a barking cough. We knew instantly that it was Croup again. Poor little guy. He's had it a few other times, so we knew what it was and what we needed to do. Of course all the InstaCare's were closed by the time, so we needed to go to the ER. Steve took him over to Alta View Hospital (where he's doing his clinical rotations right now) to get a steroid treatment, which helps his breathing (opening up his airways). After being treated, they released him about 1 hour later.
Carter at the ER, showing off his "watch."
The blanket is one Steve crocheted the boys last Christmas.
After they got home, Carter went back to bed, but then woke up around 5am still coughing w/ a bark. It seemed the treatment wasn't working since he still had the bark, though all the other times it has worked quickly. So Steve figured he'd better take him back in again to be seen. The Dr told him they wanted to wait 6 hours before giving him another dose, so they sent him home again. Ironically it was Sunday, February 10th, my birthday. Steve and I were both so tired though from the rough night. I slept in a little, then when I woke up Steve went back to bed. We were supposed to go to Stake Conference at 10am, but there was no way we were going to make it. You could tell Carter was tired and not feeling well, but he wouldn't take a nap. So that afternoon, Steve put Carter in the car and went for a drive. He fell asleep pretty quickly of course. You do what you have to do w/ sick kids. We're so glad things worked out though, and we celebrated my birthday Friday and Saturday before Carter was sick.
Carter asleep in the car.
We got more snow again that night.
Thankfully our neighbor has a snow plow on his truck, and plowed our driveway for us.
I made some turkey noodle soup on Sunday from the turkey broth, which we had leftovers on Monday. Carter seemed to be feeling better that day. The next day though he wasn't doing too well, and then had a fever. Steve took the day off, and ended up taking him into the Dr on Tuesday, and they confirmed he had the flu this time. So they gave him a prescription for Tamiflu to help. We all got our flu shots, but apparently with smaller kids they can't give them as strong of a dose so they're more susceptible.
Carter eating turkey noodle soup, then passed out on the couch the next day while watching a show.
I took Wednesday off in order to stay home w/ sick Carter, so Steve could go in to work. He needed to do a student evaluation w/ the lady over all the student sonographers at IHC hospitals. It was a cold, windy day that day and Carter still wasn't feeling the best, but we made it. He did start to act better by the afternoon though, and his fever was starting to subside. We're thankful for medicine!
Windy day and cold.
On Thursday, February 14th, Valentine's Day, we had a little scavenger hunt for the boys in the morning where they found a little bag of candy at the end. Nyles thought it was so fun, and said we should do it every year! Steve took the rest of the week off so I could work, from home of course. Carter has a hard time not "bugging" me when I'm home though, so to get out of the house Steve took him for another car ride. Of course he fell asleep as soon as they started going. Steve went to a parking lot and he slept for quite a while, ironically through a big rain storm, but then he woke up. Funny enough he gave Steve this crusty look and said, "drive." So Steve drove a little longer and he slept some more.
Carter awake, then asleep again. Carter picked out his outfit, a dinosaur shirt w/ red pants.
Steve at work on Wednesday. The main room he's in doesn't have a window so he's oblivious to the weather. Nyles' front tooth is almost out. He wiggles it but he won't let us pull it out yet.
Nyles and Carter w/ the shark and fish blankets Aunt Diane made them and Valentine's goodies from Nyles' school party. They have a lot of fun playing in the blankets.
Friday morning we were awakened at 5am to an EARTHQUAKE, literally! It felt like someone was shaking our bed to wake us up. It surely woke us up, to say the least. I looked over to Steve who jumped out of bed. He then said to me, "earthquake!" I have never experienced and earthquake before, so I didn't know what it was at first. It sure was strange though. I felt so helpless, like our whole house was going to collapse or slide away or something. Thankfully it lasted only a few seconds. When it stopped I went to the bathroom (since that's what I normally do when I wake up in the morning). We just got back and bed after discussing what we should do, and then ANOTHER earthquake happened. It was so eerie feeling. I felt sick to my stomach for a while too.
After the second one, Steve's brother Jeff started messaging, as we were all trying to figure out what was happening. We later found out we just experienced a 3.3 and 3.8 magnitude earthquake. The epicenter was in Bluffdale, which is on the border of Salt Lake and Utah County. Pauline definitely felt it in Herriman and Jeff in Lehi. We heard people all the way up to Millcreek felt it too. Thankfully Nyles and Carter pretty much slept through it (they didn't cry or anything), though the next morning Nyles said he did wake up 2 times with the shaking. He said he thought something fell off his bed but didn't see anything, so he went back to bed. We didn't see or hear anything fall off our walls either, so after the 2nd one, we tried to go back to bed. It was hard to settle down though, as our adrenaline was pumping. It sure got us thinking about emergency preparedness though.
After another sleepless night, I decided to work from home again. I had a full day of appointments, so Steve ran errands w/ Carter to get him out of the house. In the afternoon he went to pick up Nyles and he heard an explosion at the school. He couldn't see anything, but soon the firemen and policemen showed up. They then came and told the parents they could only get the kids from the front entrance, but they wouldn't let you drive in. So Steve had to drive around the other side of the school since the road was blocked, then park and walk over to the school. They found out it was a gas-line explosion, and when he picked up Nyles, Nyles said maybe the explosion was from the earthquake. Maybe....After picking up Nyles from school, Steve took the boys to McDonalds for an ice cream cone and to play in the play place, win/win.
Nyles at McDonald's play place.
Steve also built me a drawer divider for my utensil drawer. I LOVE it!
Friday afternoon all the snow had pretty much melted from the warm rain, and we had sunshine again, so the boys played outside. As I mentioned before, we've had big windstorms this week before the earthquake. Many neighbors said when they heard the earthquake, they thought it was the wind moving things around again. Lots of people's fences fell down this week during the windstorms, including a piece of ours. It's w/ our back neighbors. We replaced a piece last year, and we knew it was only a matter of time before more would fall.
Steve, Carter and Nyles assessing the damage of the fence.
The kids having a "picnic" under the neighbor's trampoline.
Carter, Nyles, Sofie, and Bode playing between our 2 yards while Steve braces the fence before more falls down.
After I finished work on Friday, we drove Nyles over to Dave/Joann's house where Stacie/Phill are living right now. London and Conor wanted to do a sleepover w/ cousins. London invited Lynsie and Conor invited Nyles.
As soon as we go there, Carter found a bowl of popcorn and sat next to London.
He loves his cousins.
Carter was so sad to leave Nyles and worried about him. We got him a treat at the Dollar Store though, which cheered him up for a while. Thankfully he slept the whole night for us, which we greatly needed. After breakfast we went and picked up Nyles and went and got groceries.
It's sure been an interesting February so far. Mostly w/ the weather and nature. Carter is feeling better now and the rest of us seem healthy at the moment. Hopefully the rest of the month is a little more calm for us. Here's to hoping!
