Weekend in Idaho

We went up to Paul Idaho to visit my Grandma Renz (also known as Grandma Great). We took my niece Chloe with us, and we had a good time. We went to Twin Falls on Saturday. We watched the crazy guys base jump off of the bridge that takes you into town that goes over the Snake River Gorge. It is a beautiful canyon. It was windy, but fun to watch the dare-devils go nuts off of the bridge. We went shopping at the mall, had lunch at Applebees and then went to see the Shoshone Falls. (also known as the Niagra Falls of the West) They havn't opened the spillway, so the falls weren't all big and grand, but they were still pretty. I'm glad that we went to visist my grandma, this time is precious.

Oh so Wicked in San Francisco!

My sweet husband bought tickets for he and I to go to San Francisco and see Wicked. We went last weekend and saw it... and it was FABULOUS!! I had tears in my eyes nearly the whole 3 hours. If you ever get the chance to see a broadway show, with a broadway cast... you have to do it, there is no experience like it. We got to do a whole bunch of other fun things like go to fishermans warf, visit Alcatraz, go over the Golden Gate Bridge, visit China Town, walk (carefully) down Lomard Street, jump a ride on the Trolly Car and shop in the Famous Union Square area. We packed as much as we possibly could in our 3 days of bliss! We stayed at a nice local hotel called the Milano. It was on 5th and Jessie, right downtown in the thick of it. We were within walking distance to just about everything, and if we were not, we were only a block away from the transportation hub. It is a fun town, some very interesting people there... but fun! I enjoyed spending time with my husband, just being a couple. I am so lucky!

March for Babies

Hi Everyone!
It has been a while since I have posted anything. Linda usually does all of our blogging. It is that time of year again for the March of Dimes, March for Babies. On the right side of our blog you will find a link where you can donate. If that is not enough of a persuasion please read on.

Our family has been affected by prematurity and birth defects more than once. My sister Trudy was born with a lethal heart defect. My sister Emma was also born with a severe form of spina bifida with hydrocephalus which was also lethal. Our nephew Boston was born at 32 weeks and spent weeks in the NICU. Amelia also spent a few days in the NICU due to complications.

Needless to say, birth defects and prematurity can be devistating to a family and they can affect any family - even ours. The March of Dimes is one of the few advocacy groups out there fighting for birth defects and prematurity.

I know that times are hard, but I would ask you to please follow the link on the right and give to the March of Dimes this year. You don't need to give a lot. Every little bit helps.

Please let me know if you have any questions about birth defects or prematurity in Utah. I could go on for days.

Thanks for reading - and thank you for your donation!
Miland

The ROOT of all evil!

So I had to write my little "oh poor me" post. I had a tooth ache 2 weeks ago and thought that it was just sinus pressure ( as it has been before). So after 3 days I decided to call the dentist. I called and he told me that he thought that I needed to have a root canal done. I freaked out. Going to the dentist is one of those things that I can not handle well... so anyway. I made an appointment with and Endodontist (Dr. Chad Christensen, in Syracuse for anyone who need a great one) and had the root canal done one Thursday, 5 days after the initial pain started. It wasn't as bad as I thought it would be to have it done, but after, not so fun. The pain was not good, there are all kinds of bacteria that form in the tooth, and when exposed to air, they go nuts. So on Saturday, when I had been in tears for a few hours, Miland called the dentist and asked what to do. He said to come in and he would help. He had to drill my tooth down so that it wouldn't hit everytime I tried to close my mouth. He gave me some good drugs for a few days and and antibiotic. Well, I am alergic to everything and so of course this antibiotic made me sick. It was a slow build up of stomach discomfort and then turned into awful heartburn and indegestion. I finally realized (on the 6th day of taking it) that it was the antibiotic that was making me sick. I got sick and vomited so hard that I burst blood vessels in my eye and in my face around both eyes, on my forehead and on my cheeks. That is attractive. I am feeling much better now, only a fell blood vessels not healed up yet. All of this because of a little tooth. I still have to go back to get the root canal finished and have a cap put on! I am not looking forward to that.

Here fishy fishy fishy!

We decided to go ice fishing with mamas and papa on Sunday. We went to Farmington Pond. The ice was still really thick for February, (or else there is no way I was stepping foot out there) Mia was having a great time looking down the hole waiting to see a fish. Last time we went fishing the fish were up near the ice and if you looked down the hole you could see the fish swimming around. Emma had fun playing in the snow and the slush. She sat in the snow until it soaked her clean through. It was a very nice day outside, the sun was shining and we didn't have any snow. Papa caught a fish while we were there, which was fun for the girls to see... we kissed it and put it back. Papa won the first-fish dollar. When every the guys go fishing, whoever catches the first fish gets a dollar from everyone who is fishing. It makes it fun. I love to go do things with the girls and make memories. This was a fun thing to go and do that the kids love. We are outdoors people... so hopefully the girls will still like the outdoors when they get older. The Sunday before, mamas and papa took the girls out to Antelope Island and they got to see the buffalo and chickens and other various wild life out there. Mia did nothing but talk about the "buffalos and chickens on the island". She had to tell everyone about it. How lucky we are to have our parents close to spend time with our children.

Fresh Air

In the valley we experience a horrible thing during the winter months called an inversion. The high pressure in the upper atmosphere holds down all of the bad air until we have a lovely smog hanging around every day all day. The only way to get around the ick is to go up into the mountains and enjoy the fresh air. We have been pretty lucky to only have a week or so of the smog this winter, but it is still gross and makes it hard to breath. We decided to go for a drive up the canyon to get our clean air. It was georgeous up there. We love Snowbasin, so we went up there to watch people ski and enjoy the sunshine and blue sky. When we got there all the lots were full, but we managed to find a spot to park. They have a fun tubing hill. We sent Emma down just once to the tune of $5 each ride down. She had a great time though and we hope to go spend a day up there letting her go up and down the hill till she's ready to fall over. We had a great time there, looked into lessons for Emma, it costs about $65 for a 2 hour lesson and $15 to rent equipment. A little much for us to afford right now. A full day lift pass costs $68 dollars, we considered Miland getting a lift pass and teaching her himself, but they recomend getting the lessons.

Anyway, it was a good afternoon! We can't wait to go up there again!

Bubbles bubbles everywhere!!

Ever wonder how they get so may bubbles in the tubs to cover the actresses in the movies? I know one way. All you have to do is but a lid full of bubble bath in the tub and turn on your jets... before you know it you have 10 inches of bubbles on top of the water and children getting lost in them. The girls thought that it was a great thing and now want to take the super bubble bath all the time. (it takes forever to wash all the bubbles down, so I don't recomend it unless you have half an hour to wash the tub out after)