We Haz Jazz

Scott begged me not to come to his 5th grade program because it was going to be really lame, so he said . But I had to go...it's not very often that Scott lets me take his picture and being able to take a picture when he is doing something he feels is goofy is even better!
He started the dance off very serious.

I think this picture shows how lame he thought it all was.

But then...

wait a second....

is that Scott smiling?
YES! I think it is!

Maybe just maybe it wasn't as lame as he thought and could it be...Did Scott actually enjoy himself? I think he did and I enjoyed watching him even more!!

School programs are the greatest!

T.J. and Ben

Easter weekend we were able to take pictures of the two baby cousins. T.J. is 7 weeks older than Ben and as cute as can be.

It's always fun to lay them side by side and see how much each of them have grown.
And to compare differences in their features and their temperament and the way they play.
Cousins are so fun!!

Easter Activities

I love Easter and talking to my kids about the Resurrection of our Savior Jesus Christ. I get to be primary chorister in our ward and for Easter I took a big vase and stuck an Easter egg in it that had a picture of Christ inside. Then one of the kids tried to get it out and couldn't. So we talked about how certain things had to happen for Christ to be resurrected. The first thing we added was water, because just like Jesus water is clear and perfect. Then we added vinegar that I put in a plastic container that they couldn't see through. This represented our bodies and we talked about how even though are bodies are great they are not perfect because we can die. Then we added the Priesthood which of course was baking soda and talked about how Heavenly Father has the priesthood, lets us use it under his authority and it is the power that he used to resurrect Jesus. The egg rose up and out of the vase and was no longer stuck, just like all of us. Because of the atoning sacrifice of our brother Jesus Christ we are no longer stuck after we die. The kids loved it and my kids liked it so much they wanted to do it again when we got home.

I also love all the activities that we do during Easter. Even though egg dying is very messy I love doing it with my kids every year. Since this would be Sam's first time helping we decided to take the activity outside. And I am very glad we did. Sam wanted to do everything all by himself! He is a very determined little guy!

Timmy loves any activity that gets his hands messy! This egg was his favorite, he called it his army egg.Even though Scott pretends not to enjoy this, I think secretly he does. He was very meticulous about how his eggs were dyed.

Bethany loved all of the beautiful colors. But I think she ended up with mostly pink in her pile.

Matthew likes this activity more than any of my other kids. He is always mad that I don't have more than a dozen eggs for him to dye because it's never enough for all the designs he wants to make and the colors he wants to mix.

Easter morning the kids were up bright and early. They each got one prize and way too much candy in their basket.
All the boys got a new Lego set.

Bethany got a Playdough ice cream maker.
Sam got puzzles but didn't even notice them until after he had eaten way too much candy.

Last but not least the Easter egg hunt. I was so busy with the other kids that this is the only picture I was able to take but the look on Scott's face says it all!

Happy Easter!!

A Few Firsts!

4/19/11 Ben grabbing and playing with toys.

Playtime is serious business.

4/23/11-Ben's first laugh.

5/1/11-Ben's first time in the bumbo seat.

Sam definitely can't miss out on any of the action!

Kawasaki What???

Saturday night after Matthew took a bath he showed me a weird rash he had on his tummy. I didn't think much about it and then Sunday morning he woke up with a fever of 102. Monday, Matthew was still sick and said it hurt to swallow so I took him into the doctor thinking he had strep. When I got to the doctor he said,"Oh this is for sure strep because he has the scarlatina rash and a fever." He even said it was the best strep rash he has seen for a long time so he took pictures of Matthew to put in his book to teach other colleagues what the rash looks like.

Anyway, the doctor took the strep test and was so positive that that's what it was that he sent me down for the medicine before the test came back. Matthew was so sick he laid down in his office while I went to get the meds. When I came back up for Matthew the doctor met me in the hall. The rapid strep test came back negative. He couldn't believe it. He told me to take the medicine home and have Matthew take it anyway and he would call me when the long term test came back in.

So we went home and the next day the doctor calls and says to come back in because the long-term test is negative. Meanwhile Matthew is still not feeling any better and should be because he put him on Keflex which is a really strong antibiotic. So we made an appointment for the next day and went in.

This time the doctor looked him over and the rash was getting worse. He said the only other disease he knew of that came with a high temperature and a scarlatina rash was called kawasaki's disease. They don't know how people get this disease and he said the disease would run its course and the bad part is that in the end it could leave aneurisms on Matthew's heart if it went untreated. Then he went onto explain that the only way to test for the disease is by process of elimination. So we needed to start tests right away since they have to treat by day 9-10. By this time we were on day 4-5. One thing I did not understand during this whole thing is why they just didn't treat him if it could leave aneurisms on the heart. Later I learned that the treatment is a pool of hemoglobin's that they put in Matthew's blood stream. Since it is from so many different people it can cause all sorts of other problems so they don't want to treat him if they don't have to. The doctors don't even know why the treatment works or why on earth someone had the idea to try it out.So this is the course the disease takes leading up to aneurisms on the heart. Scarlatina rash, high fever, liver inflammation, white blood cells and bili in the urine, blood shot eyes, strawberry tongue, enlarged lymph nodes and puffy hands and feet. Each of these things came at different times and then gradually went away.

As we were coming up on Easter weekend my pediatrician was extremely worried because he was pretty sure Matthew had Kawasaki's disease and we needed to treat him but all of the tests hadn't come back yet and the way Kaiser works(our insurance)our doctor had to get approval from another doctor to treat. Well the second doctor wasn't sure if we should treat and thought it would be fine to wait the weekend. So we decided to wait and Andy gave Matthew a blessing and blessed him that his body would be able to heal itself. This had really taken a lot out of Matthew and he was really tired. But this is a picture of him Easter weekend and he was a real trooper. In this picture he just looks pale but really he was pretty yellow.

Monday we went back into see the doctor and Matthew was actually doing better. Since he looked good they decided that instead of immediately treating him they would send him to Dornbecher's Children's hospital to get a echo cardiogram to check for aneurisms. The echo cardiogram came back completely normal! It still took awhile for Matthew to feel completely better and we also had to go back later that month to get his liver levels checked again, which also went back to normal. It was a crazy week and a half but also an amazing one. I'm so grateful for the priesthood and that Matthew was able to get better on his own!

Taking a Break!

For spring break this year I decided to get away and take the kids to Utah. Andy had to stay home to work and Scott stayed with him until Thursday so he could go on a camp out. We left Sunday and made our first stop to visit Grandpa and Grandma Jeppsen.

It was a good break from the car and the kids had a great time playing with grandpa and the new dog.

Our next stop was at Jon and Jenny's. While we were there we met my friends Jamie and Emily at the park to play. Then we had dinner Monday night with all my siblings and their families.
Ben and Violet (Jon and Jenny's baby) born just one day apart!

I have a feeling one day they will look pretty much like this!

Sam and Valerie
I love two year old's they are so helpful, aren't they?
Vacationing with Grandma is quite a treat because she always seems to be able to fill up the whole week with fun activities! Tuesday we went down to the Carl Bloch exhibit. I love art and really enjoyed the exhibit and especially getting to talk to my kids about the pictures of the Savior. We were able to have dinner again with everyone and get a picture of all the cousins. I was a little sad that Scott wasn't there but I know how excited he was about his camp out.Valerie helped me all week with baby Ben. Whenever I put him on the floor she was right there to take good care of him.Violet, T.J., and Ben. The three cousins born within the last year.
Valerie and Sam had to take part in the action too!

They love their babies!

Wednesday we went to the Church History Museum. The boys thought the font was really cool and they actually remember seeing the one at the Oquirrh Mountain Temple open house.After the museum we went over to Temple Square. Bethany loved this because I told her it was where her dad and I were married. She then took a hold of Jaxson's hand and told him the good news while pointing out the temple.We took the kids up to see the statue of Christ. Before we left on our trip someone asked Bethany where she was going for spring break. She said she was going to see Jesus. Well this made me a little nervous especially when Andy said the last time he had heard a child say that the whole family died in a car accident. Well rest assured we made it home. Maybe Bethany somehow knew we would go to Temple Square. Thursday we went out to visit my Grandma Atkin. My mom took all my kids except Ben back to Hillary's that night so I could pick up Scott from the airport. I was thrilled to be able to stay and visit with my grandma without having to chase any children!

Thursday night when I went to get Scott from the airport a big snow storm hit the Salt Lake area. My kids were so excited. Too bad I didn't pack for snow since it's supposed to be our spring break!
Matthew was nice enough to pull Bethany and Sam around for a while since the hill wasn't that steep.
Then Matthew helped Timmy go down the hill because the snow wasn't that great for sledding.
Scott and Matthew got brave and decided since the hill wasn't that big they would try standing up.
Then later Joe and Matthew went out and built a snowman. Even though it's supposed to be spring break, I'm glad they had fun in the snow.

Since the weather outside wasn't great, this was mostly the scene around Hillary's house if we didn't have anywhere to go!
D.S., D.S., and more D.S! At least they were having a good time.
Friday we went to the dinosaur museum at Thanksgiving Point.

Run boys, run!

This brontosaurus spanned across the whole entire room. It was huge! The museum had a section where the kids could build islands and lakes for their dinosaurs. Emily and Scott had a pretty good oasis going on their side of the room.
The kids loved the human skeletons killing the mammoth with their spears. Go figure they must be boys.

Last but not least the T-Rex.

Saturday we went to Classic Skate. Hillary booked a birthday party so we were able to do all the activities they had to offer.
They had a jungle gym for the littles and for the older kids.
I think they had about eight bounce houses, slides, and obstacle courses.And I loved that they had a special one just for the little kids!

Bethany is being brave and trying out the older kids bounce arena.

After the bounce houses the kids were able to go play a game of laser tag and then they went into the ball room. Where they could blast each other with foam balls. They ended up spending a lot of time in there because it was a jungle gym too, it just came with guns to shoot each other!

They even let you take scooters out on the roller skating rink. Bethany thought that was awesome.Lucky grandma, she gets to pull Sam around the rink!
Now for the real reason we took the trip in the first place...for Violet's baby blessing. It was a beautiful blessing and I was so glad I got to be there for it. It was great week and fun to be with my family!