What We've Been Up to This Past Month

Just as a prologue: We have had somebody sick in our house since before Halloween. Just sayin'.

As a lot of you know, we went to California to see Jarum's sister get married and to celebrate Thanksgiving with the Boyers. We pretty much had three weeks notice which isn't all that much time to get ready. Needless to say it was a very stressful couple of weeks.

Four weeks before the trip everybody got sick with some kind of fever/cold. Most of us had a cough that went away, but for some reason, Josh just wasn't losing the cough. I took him in three weeks before the trip (BT) and the nurse practitioner's init

ial diagnosis was the croup. Yeah. Whatever. I took him in a few days later (two weeks BT) and a DOCTOR diagnosed him with pneumonia. That's right. Pneumonia! We immediately got him on antibiotics. Took him in a week later (Monday BT) and all was well. Unfortunately Jacob was showing signs of a fever and a cough. The day before the trip I took him in to make sure that he didn't have swine flu and was okay to fly. Turns out he had PNEUMONIA! Yep. Got him on antibiotics and a steroid.

Here we turn to our flight out West. We were supposed to leave at 6:45am EST, get to Houston at 8:45am CST, fly out of Houston at 9:30am CST and get to Sacramento at 11:30am PST. Yeah. That so didn't happen. Due to mechanical problems with o

ur very first flight, we missed our connection in Houston and had to stay there for TWELVE HOURS to catch the next flight to Sacramento. So, instead of getting to California at 11:3oam PST, we got there at 11:30PM PST. We were so tired. Thank goodness for the USO! (For more details on this, see previous post)

We got to California and had a blast staying at Jarum's br

other's house. We laughed so hard just about every night that we think we may have tightened our abs just a little bit. The kids had so much fun playing with their cousins, and we had a very nice time at the wedding, seeing more Aunts and Uncles, and visiting with Jarum's parents. We celebrated three birthdays and Thanksgiving as well. Crazy busy! It was also so beautiful in California. I'd forgotten what a pretty state it is.

While we were in California (five days into the trip) Kaylee started showing signs of a fever and a cough. Yep. We took her into Urgent Care and guess what she had. WRONG! It wasn't pneumonia! It was bronchitis and an ear infection! Antibiotics.

On Thanksgiving (two days after Kaylee went to Urgent

Care) I was back there with Joshua. Ear infection. Antibiotics.

We flew home on Black Friday. The kids did really well on the flight, considering Josh was only 12 hours into his antibiotic treatment. We did have a bit of trouble landing in Dulles, though. There were 50-60 mph winds hitting the airport. Needless to say four of the six of us had to use our barf bags. I won't go into details, but one of the little o

nes didn't really make it into the bag. I am so sorry, airplane cleaners! However, we were not the only ones on the flight to have to use those little bags, so that should just tell you how bumpy that landing was. We had to use up all of our wipes just cleaning up one of the kids, and wouldn't you know it, on our connecting flight back to Savannah, Josh exploded out of his diaper. No problem, I thought. I'll just use the paper towels in the lavatory, and I've got extra clothes for him. Really, no problem. WRONG! When I got to the lavatory, there was a plastic bag over the faucet and packages of moist towelettes in the sink. !!!! I think I used, like, nine of them. Note to self: Bring extra wipes. Way more than you think you m

ight ever need.

We made it home safe and sound, no problems. The house was still here, the pets were glad to see us. It was so nice to be home!

On Saturday we got our Christmas Tree. We had a blast going to the Christmas Tree farm. We found a tree right away and all of the kids helped Jarum cut it down. We then went on a hayride, saw some farm animals, and then came home. By the end of the day we had all of the Christmas decorations up, the tree done, and we watched BYU bea

t Utah.

Then Sunday came.

After church Matthew wasn't looking so well. In fact, he was hot! 101F. (Have you been keeping track of everyone who has gotten sick? Because I don't think I even know anymore!) Since the CDC has been suggesting that those with fevers stay home until they have been fever-free for 24 hours, Matthew didn't go to school on Monday. He was very sad. He was fever-free for most of the morning but then it came back, rearing its ugly head in the afternoon. Seriously! So no school for him on Tuesday, either. He did, however, manage to

stay all better all of Tuesday, which brings us to today.

Matt is back at school.

I'm not feeling so well.

Can I please go on vacation?

Some pictures for your enjoyment:

In the USO

He decided he needed a nap 15 minutes before we had to board for our flight. D'oh!

This isn't the most flattering picture of me (I'm really not that big) but Jarum was hot, so I had to post it. :D

Jarum's brother Chris and his wife Jill. Don't they look like they're taking a prom picture? Classic!

At Grandma and Grandpa Boyer's house

We visited the very first A&W restaurant EVER. Yeah. Be jealous.

The kids playing freeze tag with Jill's younger brothers and sisters.

Kaylee working the Christmas Tree Farm

See the Gnome on top? See it!? I still get the giggles every time I go in there.

Joshy's nursery teacher is absolutely the best. She helped them make these as they were learning about putting on the "Armor of God."

Our can rotation/storage system. We put it together last night. We can't seem to stop taking a can out and watching it roll through. It is pretty cool. And we know the thing on the bottom is upside down. Being the frugal people we are, we bought a floor-model. :)