More Christmas Holiday Fun

Stevey and I really wanted to do something special for our wonderful children during the Christmas holiday so we decided to make reservations up in Jackson Hole and stay in a cabin. We celebrated our 13 year anniversary and Jackson Hole is where we honeymooned all those years ago.

We beat the snow storm up there, but our cabin wasn't quite ready for us so we decided to get some lunch to eat...and yes the kids were hungry and anxious to get out of the car (hence to noise volume in the van). The restaurant we chose was closed down (who new) so we went to Wendy's (special...it was our kids first time there). We ate and then finally made it to the cabin....hurray (praise the Lord).

We walked around the grounds admiring the beauty and then discovered that the pool was heated and just calling our names. We changed and had a great time in the pool in 20 degree weather.

Dinner time.

Sibling rivalry was in full force between the two little precious ones and according to them, we couldn't get out to the restaurant soon enough. Sorry the restaurant is CLOSED. Volume increases substantially in the van. Now if you think you can just go to some other restaurant in J.H. you are mistaken. If you want to just go to some other saloon then that is another story.

We eventually found a delicious Mexican restaurant and had a nice dinner and everyone (for the most part ) was happy.

Sleeping time.....just use you imagination here.

Breakfast. WONDERFUL! DELICIOUS! BEAUTIFUL! HEALING! The Rustic Inn has the most wonderful breakfast ever and the presentation was incredible (Kemy you would have been so impressed)!

We made it out of the cabin eventually and decided to travel ten miles up to Teton Village and take in all of the beauty there. We would have if we didn't get caught in a white out snow storm on the way up and then have three of the restaurants we chose to eat at (and sold the kids on) be closed, I'm sure we would have had a lovely time. Two hours later and with the kids totally freaking out we were back in Jackson and eating at Mountain High Pizza Pie. Thank goodness we stuffed ourselves and didn't need dinner.

The next morning we had another wonderful breakfast and then started to clean up for check out. We enjoyed more of what J.H. had to offer site seeing wise and then went to McDonald's for lunch on the way home (they were open).

Conclusion. 1. At this time of our lives we just need to reduce the expectation. The little girls are horrible to travel with and push Stevey and I to the very edge of sanity with their mellow and cooperative personalities. 2. Never assume that you can pick a restaurant in this economy and assume that it will be open for business. 3. "Enjoy the journey".

P.S. How do the rest of you do it....joyfully and enjoy it?

Christmas

Lots of tears and fighting courtesy the two little girls. There is a huge sibling rivalry between the two and it brings LOTS and LOTS of peace and joy into our home. Christmas was great but we are still recovering...even Grandma Hunter whose whole life revolves around her grandchildren used the word 'crazy' to best describe our Christmas experience. At least we have 2010 to look forward too.

Big Judd's

There was an article about a hamburger restaurant that has been voted #1 in all of Idaho for the past several years called Big Juds. It is in a small little town in the middle of no where but the picture they used in the newspaper article of the "Triple SIX POUND Burger" looked too good to pass up so we made plans to do lunch there today.

Big Juds serves fresh ground beef hamburgers that they ground fresh daily and fries that are fresh Idaho gems. We aren't a big red meat eating family, but like I said the picture in the newspaper was awesome and we just had to try it.


There was one pound of burger per pattie times THREE, so three pounds of burger, seven slices of bacon, loads of real cheddar cheese, I swear a jar of pickles, tons of sliced lettuce, and gobs of thinly sliced sweet onions with a delicious white sauce. They usually add about two pounds of freshly sliced tomatoes to the thing but they were out of tomatoes today....twas OK, because only Stevey likes tomatoes on burgers.

We sliced the burger into fourths and then again into eights for the big kids and then sixteenths for the little ones.

It was pretty much one of the most delicious burgers ever and we were STUFFED. This is a must visit restaurant for anyone who comes to Idaho and visits us.

Christmas in November and a birthday

Grandpa and Grandma Conder came to visit the day after Thanksgiving to celebrate Christmas with us. Our family has made the executive decision not to travel for the Christmas season (the two little/impossible) angels/maniacs played the principle major role in the decision.

We exchanged gifts, ate yummy dinner, watched a movie while enjoying carmel popcorn, played wii, and drove around looking at Christmas lights among other things while they were here.

The following day we celebrated grandpas birthday....how old are you?

We always have a good time when they come to town and the kids never want to see them leave. Clover even asked for them to take her away with them to Utah....I wonder if she would have ever wanted to come back home.

Good times.

No more curls

Just for the day we straightened Clover's hair. Before she even left the bathroom her loving father quietly cornered me and needed reassurance that her curls were going to come back. I reassured him that I only straighted her curls with an iron and didn't change the hair follicles themselves....geez, a dad and his daughters curls, who knew.

Fireplace

Stevey made this for me....
(it's almost complete)

I love fireplaces in the winter...love love love them. I have been asking for one for the last two years and this year we were finally able to get one.
I had visions of something awesome and original and it took FOREVER to figure it out. We were thinking of something in stone, but just couldn't find the perfect stone. When the idea of barn wood came to us we knew we had a winner of an idea and Stevey decided to check Craigslist for barn wood (go figure)and found this. A young kid from Rigby, ID had just torn down his recently deceased grandpas barn and was selling off the wood to earn money for college...and he was selling it very cheap. The faded red paint (no lead) and metal patches on the wood were already there and it was exactly what we were looking for.

We found this slate tile at a local dealer here and it was perfect. The stone we used around the fireplace we got for free....just some extra rubble laying around at another local dealer that let us take what we wanted.


The mantel wood we purchased from a different barn wood dealer for a great price because we had the right connections..thanks cw!

Anyway, we LOVe it. You might be thinking, "but it doesn't match your other furniture or wall paint..." No need to worry, it isn't a new project can't fix.

Quick Update!

Clover is doing MUCH better....thank goodness. She responded to the homeopathy almost immediately and there is no more swelling and she has a few hive dots on her back.

One of our friends who is a dermatologist left a comment about what her condition is and how serious it could be. As I googled and researched the information I feel much better knowing what it is and what to look out for if it occurs again in the future.

Urticaria and Angioedema... google it and be prepared in case it ever strikes someone in your family.

This has been fun

It started out just like any other cold...runny nose, cough, low grade fever 101.8. By the second night around 5pm fever is 104.0 so we give Tylenol. By 7:30pm I notice that her lips are swelling and she has a strange "ring" rash on her arm.

By 2:30am we notice the rash is morphing and spreading to pelvic area and bum (sorry no photos posted of adorable bum).

By 7am rash that looks like welts is all over and the little ring shapes have broken open and look like whipping stripes and yes they are hurting her.

By 8:45am we are in the doctors office and I thought for sure he was going to tell me that she had Ring Worm in which I had become an expert on during this sleepless night trying to figure out what might be all over my daughters body. The doctor says "no" to ring worm but "yes" to virus hives.

What in the world is virus hives. Her body is producing too much histamine with the virus and her body is responding with hives....nice. He suggested giving her Benadryl and if that doesn't work in a couple of weeks to then give her steroids.

Three days later we are looking like this. The welts are less but it just keeps moving around and her face is swelling up again. The Benadryl isn't really working and we are giving her more than I really feel comfortable with.

Day four I wake up to this! Honestly, I barely recognized her...the pictures didn't really capture it.

Enough!

I am now getting pretty concerned that the swelling could turn inward and maybe start to restrict her breathing. I made an appointment with our alternative medicine doctor and discovered that her liver and kidneys are trying to push out toxins from something that has infected her, maybe like the three other viruses since her H1N1 dealio. While we are in the office the hives are moving all over her face and starting to reappear on her back, bum, tummy, feet, hands, and legs again.

Anyway, we are using homeopathy to assist in the cleansing and so far her face has shrunk quite a bit....wish us luck.

This has been the weirdest thing ever!

Rain Gutter Rigotta

Halloween Costumes 2009

Happy Halloween monster cake....yummy!



Wolverine!


Beauty Queen 1983 (looks more 70's though)


Sunny the Giraffe

Bat Girl....of course.

Red Eye Green Tree Pets

Our children are getting older and insisting on having pets. I like dogs and cats as long as they live somewhere else.....so what to do.

Frogs.

We have six frogs now. Two of these Red-eyes, two gree tree, and two Whites tree frogs and the kids are happy.

H1N1 Hair

When Clover was really sick a month ago her body ached so badly that I didn't even attempt to brush out her hair...her curls really make it quite the event daily and I decided no to torture her. After about a week of neglect this is what we got...

I didn't even try to brush it out. We just went directly to the bath tub and worked this mess out with a lot of shampoo and conditioner and most importantly love!