Spring At Last!

 

The weather is warming up and the kids are out playing with the neighbourhood kids every day. 

It's a new level of freedom for them, being able to play in the street and ride bikes for hours on end.

As I type I can look out the front room window and see them playing with chalk on a friend's driveway.

The weather today is t-shirt weather yet yesterday we woke up to a glistening, snow covered yard. The snow lasted long enough for the kids to play in but was mostly gone by lunch. 

We haven't had to shovel our driveway since being in our new house so we won't know 'till next winter if we bought good snow shovels. 

 

Jack the puppy is adjusting to life in our house. He has found the best hiding spots and worked out that Chelsea is the morning person. She wakes up first so she takes him out to the back yard for morining business. We usually wake to an excited "He's done wee's and a poo! I saw him do a POO!"A surprisingly welcome report for us each morning.

 

Isabelle has found a good hiding spot of her own. When she gets in trouble she hides in a great little cubby hole in Chelsea's castle bed. She has lined it will blankets and she can block the entrance with a pillow to complete the seclusion.

 

George and his toy puppy are never far from each other except when I can wrestle him off to the washing machine.

 

Last weekend we went to Famous Dave's Steakhouse with Heidi and Scott. Our wonderful neighbours babysat the kids and we went on a child free date. We ordered a platter for 4 and ate till our tummies hurt. 

We then went to 'The Sweet Tooth Fairy'- a wonderful cupcake shop that is worth getting fat for.

We are really excited about being here. The people have been so welcoming, the kids are having a great time and we feel like life is good. Now all we need, to make it perfect, is for all our Aussie family and friends to move here too... thats not asking too much is it?

When I Am Old I Shall Wear Purple

I was reading one of Holly's older blog posts and she had a great list of things to do (here)
In the list she had "wear purple shoes" and it reminded me of a favourite poem:

 
WHEN I AM AN OLD WOMAN I SHALL WEAR PURPLE
With a red hat which doesn't go, and doesn't suit me.
And I shall spend my pension on brandy and summer gloves
And satin sandals, and say we've no money for butter.
I shall sit down on the pavement when I'm tired
And gobble up samples in shops and press alarm bells
And run my stick along the public railings
And make up for the sobriety of my youth.
I shall go out in my slippers in the rain
And pick the flowers in other people's gardens
And learn to spit
You can wear terrible shirts and grow more fat
And eat three pounds of sausages at a go
Or only bread and pickle for a week
And hoard pens and pencils and beermats and things in boxes
But now we must have clothes that keep us dry
And pay our rent and not swear in the street
And set a good example for the children.
We must have friends to dinner and read the papers.
But maybe I ought to practice a little now?
So people who know me are not too shocked and surprised
When suddenly I am old, and start to wear purple.
Taken from the book
When I Am An Old Woman I Shall Wear Purple
Editd by Sandra Martz
Papier Mache Press--Watsonville, California 1987

Another Favourite poem for the week (as I post this the boys are driving wooden cars along my freshly painted walls):

WHEN I'M A LITTLE OLD LADY
When I'm a little old lady
Then I'll live with my children
and bring them great joy.
To repay all I've had
from each girl and boy
I shall draw on the walls
and scuff up the floor;
Run in and out
without closing the door.
I'll hide frogs in the pantry,
socks under my bed.
Whenever they scold me,
I'll hang my head.
I'll run and I'll romp,
always fritter away
The time to be spent
doing chores every day.
I'll pester my children
when they are on the phone.
As long as they're busy
I won't leave them alone.
Hide candy in closets,
rocks in a drawer,
And never pick up my clothes
from the floor.
Dash off to the movies
and not wash a dish.
I'll plead for allowance
whenever I wish.
I'll stuff up the plumbing
and deluge the floor.
As soon as they've mopped it,
I'll flood it some more.
When they correct me,
I'll lie down and cry,
Kicking and screaming,
not a tear in my eye.
I'll take all their pencils
and flashlights, and then
When they buy new ones,
I'll take them again.
I'll spill glasses of milk
to complete every meal,
Eat my banana and
just drop the peel.
Put toys on the table,
spill jam on the floor,
I'll break lots of dishes
as though I were four.
What fun I shall have,
what joy it will be to
Live with my children....
the way they lived with me!
~author unknown~
 

Disney On Ice- the Disneyland Substitution

As I mentioned in a previous post, I was a little bit devastated about the cancelled Disneyland trip- due to my faulty back.
Ida Mae was incredibly kind, and decided to take our family to see Disney On Ice as an alternative. The kids were excited, but unsure of what it would mean for them. Isaiah asked if he would slip on the ice, but was relieved when we told him that it was like a show, or play where they performed on the ice.
We left with plenty of time to spare but unfortunately there was an accident on the Freeway and all the side roads were
bumper to bumper for at least an hour. We finally got there 15 minutes after the show started but we were able to run straight in.



































The seats were great- they were close to the front and central so that we felt like we were part of the action.
Just as we arrived, the show was up to a Halloween themed segment, where all the bad characters from all the Disney movies were singing and dancing. Isaiah turned to me and said that it was a bit scary! I guess the kids had no idea what to expect, so they weren't sure why the show was all about the scary characters!
Once the princes and princesses came onto the stage they were pretty excited, but the favourite for Isaiah was the Toy Story Characters. I couldn't work out how the guy in the pig suit was skating on all fours, and who was in the troll doll suit- a midget skater?
Isaiah spent much of the show turning to me and saying "That move was very difficult" or "That must have been hard".
The skating was very impressive, especially considering some of those characters can't have had much field of vision.



































































Intermission was pretty exciting as Ida Mae bought the kids some very cool treats and after the show she bought them each a toy to remember the event.
On the car ride home the kids spent the time hitting each other with their new spinning toys and Chelsea almost lost a section of hair in her twirly, light-up thing.
We all had a great day, until we walked into the house to find a VERY unhappy puppy.... and a very messy laundry......... and that is all I will say about that. ;)

Salt Lake Temple

Last month we were able to go to the Salt Lake Temple. With Win's Aunty, Ida Mae babysitting we headed off. We had to park over in the Conference Centre carpark and walk in the rain to the Temple. We passed a few brides who were trying to make the most of a wet, soggy day and we finally found the right entrance. I was so excited to finally be going to the main section, having only seen the baptismal section in the past. The architecture was incredible, and everywhere you looked you saw the details that had painstakingly been carved, painted or made by someone many years ago. I loved the art work and details, and we almost missed the session because I was so caught up, looking at everything, that I got lost a dozen times.

Afterwards we met up with Win's uncle, Rich who took us to lunch at the Marriott. It was great to see him again, and although the time was brief it was wonderful to be on the other side of the world and still have family passing through. He was on his way home to New Zealand after a business trip. It was only a day or so before the earthquake in New Zealand happened, and so we wondered what busy time his office must have faced when he returned.

The experience was lovely, and we can't wait to go again, but next stop is Ogden Temple. It closes for 2 years of major remoddeling next month, so it will be our last chance for awhile!

A Bad Back, A good Puppy and a House in progress...

So It has been a few weeks since my last post.

Apart from losing the camera in the move, the main reason was that I did my back in two weeks ago and productivity levels dropped significantly in the fall out.

We moved into the new house and we were busy painting, sanding fireplaces, constructing furniture and moving furniture around.
In the photos I have shown some of the rooms that we have been painting. The living room with the fireplace shows a "before and after", as does the dining room, although that room still has a bit of work to go. We put up some of those white panel frames around the bottom half of the room, painted it the grey blue and will be putting timber floors in soon.

The living room was a tan colour and we painted it the same grey/blue and trimmed the fireplace in white. We will also be putting timber floors in this room over time.

I was planning to paint the master bedroom as well and so we bought all white furniture to contrast against the darker wall but those plans have been put on hold after I hurt my back. So right now it is white, white, white in the bedroom.

So we were really busy in the first week doing all these jobs, and all these things probably contributed to what happened next.
One night Win asked if I could help move our largest (and heaviest) sofa to the other side of the room. I had not even moved it off the ground before I felt a blinding, tearing pain that was like being struck by lightning in my back.
I will admit that I screamed like a maniac, and fell to the floor, unable to move. I lay there yelling at Win to help me because I felt like I was paralysed, and if I moved a millimetre my spine was going to explode with pain. I can only compare the pain to the very very worst moments of child birth- even breathing hurt.
He suggested that it was like a dislocated finger and that he just needed to 'pull my arms' and it would pop right back into place. At that point I told him not to touch me, and that he needed to call his cousin Scott (who does surgery on backs everyday so might be more of an expert on the subject). I knew that Heidi and Scott were out on a date, so Win was reluctant to call them unnecessarily... at this point I think Win thought I was being a big of a hypochondriac. I was on the floor exactly where I fell, shaking with shock, my teeth chattering uncontrollably and Win wanted to help me get on the couch (the one we had been planning to move) that was right next to me. It was an impossibly painful exercise and Win had to pick me up and put me on the couch because I couldn't move on my own. The movement almost made me sick.
He finally got hold of Scott, who said that he would stop by and bring some anti-inflammatory drugs with him.
Heidi and Scott arrived looking all lovely for their date, and I looked like a deranged woman in my pyjamas, with mascara everywhere.
Scott explained that it could be a torn disc but that he would keep an eye on me over the following days and prescribe some medicine if it was still bad the next day.
Well, I couldn't move for the next couple days. Literally I couldn't walk, or stand, or sit. It was like I was paralysed. So I started on some steroids and slowly each day I was able to do a little bit more. After 3 days I could just walk around, holding onto things for support. Scott lent me a really great back brace that helped enormously in the first week.

We were planning to go to Disneyland with Scott, Heidi and their kids the following week, but Scott broke the news that Disneyland was off the cards for me. To say that I was disappointed was an understatement. I begged and bargained with Win all week, and was prepared to go in a wheel chair if I had to, but Scott still said that the long car ride and exertion would only risk further damage to the disc and that his medical advice would be, not to go.
By the time they headed off to Disneyland, I had to admit that I was not physically up for it, as much as I wanted to go I could barely walk around the house for 15 minutes, let alone chasing kids at Disneyland.

In a moment of weakness Win said that maybe instead of going to Disneyland we could get a puppy.
So here we are, two weeks later with a new member of the family; Jack. He is a Havanese puppy. It is a breed that I had never heard of until we mentioned the puppy idea to Heidi and she said that they had had a Havanese and loved it. Smart, easy to train, great with kids and the same hypo-allergenic coat as a poodle, but a little less curly, and a lot more laid back.

Anyway, it turned out that the breeder she had used, had a two available puppies. We googled the breed and went to the breeder's house to see the dogs.

We fell in love with the Dad, who looked like a little old english sheep dog in his markings, and one of the pups had the markings of a border collie. I was sold, especially when she said that they were mostly toilet trained!
We bought him home the next day and it turned out that he was the perfect puppy, he went to the toilet outside every time you took him out, he didn't cry at night, he came when you called him and he would sit if he wanted something.

After two days he had even figured out how to use the cat flap so he can take himself out.
Win has actually become the dog's favourite, in fact George thinks that he has been displaced because at night times now, instead of seeing George snuggled next to Win on the couch when he should be in bed, it is the puppy sitting in the prime spot. The first night George was sent back to bed he looked very displaced.

The kids tried to strangle him with love for the first week and he would retreat to his carrier bed, but now he has warmed up to them and they play happily.

As for my back, I am still not at 100% but I can walk around and do relatively normal day to day activities with minimal discomfort. I do have to be careful but its definately improving with each day.

Win's Eye Balls Get Scraped

So I watched Win have his eye ball scraped off this week.
He went in on Monday for the PKU procedure (similar to LASIK laser eye surgery but instead of cutting a flap of your cornea off, lasering a new eye shape and then putting the flap back in place they just plain scrape off the flap, laser the eye and then let your body regrow the flap over the following week). He didn't qualify for LASIK because of stigmatisms in both eyes, but the results are the same, just a tougher recovery.
We went into the waiting room and while reading magazines a woman came around offering freshly baked cookies- a nice touch. Then she came around again. and then again. I was starting to get shaky on sugar and anxiety so I had to turn down the wonderful things but Win had no such problems, he was eating warm cookies to the minute he went into surgery. He didn't seem to share my nervousness over the coming procedure at all. Mind you it might have been the Valium kicking in. I was a wreck and so when they led him into the operating room and I was able to sit right in front of a large glass window and watch the procedure with a TV screen showing his eye ball magnified I was not sure that I had the stomach.
It only went for 5 minutes or so all up, and probably only 2 minutes for each eye, the laser part was a non event entirely, although Win did say that he could smell his own burning eye ball flesh.
I think the worst part was seeing the metal eye clamps and the sticky tape being ripped off his eyelashes at the end (they use tape to hold the eyelashes out of the way).
Win got up and walked out of there a moment later and he said that he could see better than when he used to where glasses. That was a good sign!
His vision was supposed to get worse on day 2 as the cells started to heal over the eye. Win was pretty dopey from the Valium and I drove him home to sleep for the rest of the day.
I then went to the Real Estate Agency to pick up the keys to our new house. The secretary said "Oh no, they have already been picked up by your family".
Well, I tell you, the family is efficient here! So I got to our new house and there was Ida Mae and Crystal with all my kids stocking the pantry and bathrooms with hand soap, toilet paper, paper plates and cups and food. Then they got to work cleaning all the cupboards, fridge and every where else that needed cleaning.
They are so quick to help out, even when they have a million things going on in their own family.

That evening Charlotte and Toby rang to say that they could help move the couches that we had stored at Ida Mae's house. It took a lot of heavy lifting and we discovered that the sectional sofa we had bought would not fit through the basement stair doorway (after we had already carted one section down and had the second piece perched on the stair rail!). It was an enormous effort to get the over sized piece back up the stairs once we worked out that it would not fit, and there was not a word of complaint from any of them!! Fortunately Costco has a good returns policy on things!

The next day Win had another appointment for his eyes and so Crystal and Ida Mae took care of the kids and school pick ups while we drove the 1 hr trip to Sandy for Win's eyes.
They told Win that he was healing unusually fast (quite the talent.... that's why I married him!) and all was going great. His eye sight was at 20/25 which is the legal requirement for driving. We then spent the afternoon buying mattresses and making trips back to the new house.
Win has to take drops every few hours in his eyes and he wears sunglasses most of the day because he has light sensitivity. At night he wears these really funny plastic eye goggle/eye patches that have to be taped to his face. Its like looking at Louey the Fly because they have ventilation holes. The are to stop him from rubbing his eyes in the night and dislodging some freshly grown eye ball I suppose.

Today we spent the day painting. Well, I painted while Win tried to keep the kids out of the paint. The house had a fairly neutral colour scheme; oatmeal coloured carpet, white tiles,oatmeal white walls and one Utah brown feature wall in the main living room. I decided that I really wanted to add a little colour before we moved all the furniture in.
We are planning to complete the look soon with timber floors in the living area and dining room, I would like to take up the tiled area too but it would be a time consuming task that may be above my skill level.
I will post photos as soon as I can. I bought seven sample pots of paint before I settled on the right colour. Sample pots are the only way to paint, it is amazing how much variation there is when the paint goes on the wall. The sample colour swatches all looked nearly identical on the card but they were completely different on a large area.

While we have been working at the new house the neighbours dropped by to meet us. One one side we have a lovely older couple who work in the temple and helped us work out many of the electrical things in the house like the garage door opener and the thermostat... there house is almost the same as ours so they know the answer to most things we ask!
The neighbours on the other side are a lovely family about our age who moved in 6months ago. They have 3 small kids and they bought valentines day cookies to welcome us to the neighbourhood.
We are really excited about the neighbourhood after meeting them.

Embrace The Moose

In the last two weeks we have bought and closed on a house... although we are not in it yet as the previous owners wanted another week to move out.
Hopefully we will be in there tomorrow.
We also caught up with Holly on Monday. Holly (for those who don't know her, is married to Win's cousin, Chad and they live in Canberrra). She was here for her brother's wedding and stayed in a lovely hotel in downtown Salt Lake City.
We decided that we would drive up to Park City to do some outlet shopping and see some real snow for Holly's benefit. Well, we got what we wished for....
On the drive to SLC we saw signs warning that there was a snow storm expected at 3pm. The sky was blue and it was a lovely warm day in the car so it didn't seem too likely that this "storm" was really going to be anything much.
We picked up Holly, with me driving (Win had a LASIK eye appointment the next day so he couldn't wear contacts for the week preceding). Well, my driving didn't last long because I couldn't work out which Freeway the exit to take and we ended up halfway to Provo before Win decided to take the wheel.
Holly was kind enough to bring a great bag of Australian goodies for us to eat... including crunchies, shapes, cadbury chocolate, vegiemite and weetbix- we were pretty excited but the kids devoured a box of shapes before we left the hotel car park.
The outlet shops looked just as I remembered as a teenager and there were all the good kids clothing name brands to spend far too much money on.
By the time we were done it was around 6pm, dark and snowing heavily.
I started to wonder if we would be snowed in this side of the canyon but we were able to drive back to Salt Lake very slowly, with Win driving (who couldn't see very far ahead due to a lack of contacts) and the ABS breaks periodically shuddering as they tried to find a grip on the icy roads.
I think we may have turned Holly off snow after that....
Back at Holly's hotel we ordered in and talked and laughed until hotel security called to say that there had been "complaints" and that this was her first and final warning before she would be asked to leave the hotel. We made a hasty exit after that, not realising that our giggling had been so loud.
The next day Win had his eye appointment and booked in to have the corrective eye surgery for Monday 14th Feb (tomorrow). The appointment took hours and they had to dilate his pupils to saucers to do the tests. He is not eligible for the normal LASIK eye surgery where the recovery is almost instant because of his eyes, instead he will have the PKU surgery where they cut the cornea flap and then you regrow it. The recovery is more painful but the results should be the same.
The drive home was an hour long and he was on his own with huge dilated pupils which made the light very painful- like staring straight into the sun. He came home a bit traumatised from the drive, if I had realised that they would be doing that I would have gone with him to drive.
So his surgery is booked for the same day that we move into our new house and Win will not be able to lift or move anything in the week following. Should make moving FUN!
The rest of the week was spent furniture shopping, which has been more challenging than we expected. One thing that surprised us was that the prices are no cheaper here than at home.
In fact, I would say they are more expensive.
Now anyone that knows me knows that bargain hunting is a sport in my mind, but I have really struggled to find what I want at a reasonable price.
The quality is kind of Le Cornu in comparison but with a higher price tag.
The other thing that is the difference in style. Contemporary design, or European design is not big here in general. There is a big range in the 'mountain log cabin' style with moose trims on the accent pillows. Holly's advice to me was: "Embrace the moose" which has become my motto for the week.
So in an effort to embrace the moose Win and I finally settled on a few major pieces of furniture.
I wanted to go with white traditional pieces accented with greens and blues in contrast to the black and red tones that we had in our last house.
White furniture is not as easy to come by as I expected here, and so we did settle on a black dining table because there weren't a lot of options in the style that we wanted.
The other large item was a TV. It was hard not to stare longingly at the 65 inch, 3D capable TV on sale at RC Willey, especially when the salesman said "and its the last one before we are sold out at this price". We even went as far as putting it on hold, but then we came to our senses and realised that we didn't need to spend that much on a TV.
The new 3D TVs have incredible picture quality when they are viewed in 2D, even if you never use the 3D feature they are by far the best TVs available.
When we were shopping at Walmart and Win had to buy some eye drops for his surgery at the pharmacy. Without insurance the 3 small bottles cost $179. fortunately he asked if there were any generic brands available. They came back with a new total of $117- lucky he asked!
A few minutes later we were going through the check out when George fell straight out of the trolley; backwards and head first onto the concrete floor. He landed straight on the top of his head with no arms to break his fall.
Somehow walmart got wind of the incident and sent their people to check things out. The first worker called the manager over who quickly gave us ice packs for swelling. He picked out a tube of M&M's for George to munch on and then he handed out candy to all the other kids while he took down our contact details and names.
So off we went on our way, with George munching happily on M&M's unaware that Walmart was worrying about potential lawsuits.

Chelsea started school this week. She has an exceptionally nice teacher and the kids are all very welcoming. The school is only a couple years old so all the facilities are new and high tech.
She is in 'kindergarten' which is more like reception at home and she only goes for 3 hours in the afternoon... much to the delight of Chelsea.
The first day was "100th day" for the kindergarten kids and so they got to count out 100 lollies/cereal snacks and celebrate the momentous occasion. Of course for Chelsea it was "1st" day but that didn't seem to matter.
Americans sure know how to celebrate events. Since being here we have experienced Super Bowl weekend, Valentines Day and Scout Sunday all relatively unfamiliar celebrations but of great importance here. The shops sell appropriate themed food, the aisles are strewn with the colours and every thing goes on sale. Next up: Presidents Day. As long as our TV goes on sale, I say "bring on presidents day".
Also the sales AFTER the holiday are good... I plan to pick up some cheap valentines day themed pillows for the girl's beds when they are 80% off tomorrow!

The other lovely surprise since being here is that George has taken to Great Grandma Scott with particular fondness. He hovers around her like a bee to honey. He kisses her goodbye and shows her all the toys that are of interest. Because she is restricted to her chair most of the time the other kids tend to go off and play without much interaction but George really likes his Great Grandma and he even took off out of the car when we were going home to say a final goodbye to her. I know that Win had a special relationship with her when he was the same age, and George is- in every way- a "mini- me" of Win!

The weather seems to be warming up here and Spring is around the corner. We can't believe that we have been here 2 months now... and that Win's family have been so wonderful to us.
The days are clear and a little bit warmer, with 12C not being uncommon- as opposed to 0C.
We also witnessed two teenage boys sunbaking on a roof yesterday. They waved as we gawked. There was snow still piled in their front yard, but there they were, shirtless and soaking up the sun.
We will post some photos of the new house as soon as we have moved in!