Spring Cleaning!

It's a total cleanout but unfortunately I am not referring to my house. After Caleb experienced yet another debilitating episode (purposely being vague) at the end of March (his 4th in 7 months), the Gastroenterologist prescribed a complete cleanout. I thought the triple dosage of Mirilax that we have tried several times was supposed to do the same thing but apparently this is a little more drastic. His recurrent symptoms have resulted in more than two weeks of missed school days and more doctor visits than I care to remember. We need drastic.

I don't care how much of an optimist you are, this jug is half empty!

The prescription is a gallon of water mixed with a medicine called TriLyte and is consumed by drinking one cup every hour until it is gone. It is a medication that is given to patients that are going in for a colonoscopy--we're talking squeaky clean. The prescription comes with "flavor packs" and the patient is supposed to choose one flavor to make the liquid more palatable. Caleb chose lemon lime with the flavor of Sprite in mind. I sampled a sip of the syrupy stuff so I'd be more able to sympathize. It's awful!

Yeah, it's that bad! (these shots are not posed!)

I knew it was going to be difficult so I've naturally been dreading the day when we had to go through with it. We needed to do it on a day that we didn't have much going on. Since it's spring break, today was as good a day as any. The first dose went down at 7:30 this morning and we've been going to battle every hour since. While he's done his share of complaining with phrases such as "This is just a bad day!", "I don't like days with stinky drinks that make me want to puke!" or "This medicine just freaks me out!", Caleb really has been a trooper! We'll still need to do four more doses tomorrow and then we can be done with it until next week when we're supposed to repeat the process. I can't let myself think about mutiny that I might have on my hands when I have to break that news!

Evidently if you wipe your tongue on a towel after every gulp, it makes it a little more bearable.

The house still needs its cleanout. I hope Caleb stays clean longer than my house ever does!:)

Hopping Down The Bunny Trail

Our Easter celebration began on Saturday with the Annual Lakeland Hills Egg Hunt put on by our HOA. The kids had a great time and got lots of good candy!

How cute are these girls?

Natalie wasn't quite sure of the Easter bunny but managed to muster the courage to approach him for a chocolate treat, something she was quite sure of!

Natalie loved "hunting" for eggs. As you can see, there's not much hunting involved for the 1 and 2 year old age group!

She was thrilled with her basketful!

Alyssa and Abigail waiting for their age division to begin. I love the excitement on Alyssa's face!

Silly boys!

All dressed up for church.

We shared our Easter feast with our good friends, the Evans. Here is the kid table. Caleb got that Sprite in his Easter basket. It's a treat he doesn't get too often so he wanted to enjoy it with his dinner.

The adult table. Mason took our picture for us!:)
Stephanie made this cute bunny veggie tray. We gobbled it along with a yummy pot roast, potatoes, rolls etc.

Stephanie also made these darling bunny cakes for dessert. They not only looked cute, they were delicious, too!
We couldn't let the day pass without taking the time to focus on the true meaning of Easter. We had a fun lesson and enjoyed the kids singing Easter songs.

Happy Easter!

Two Countries, 6 States and Over 7250 miles- Jon and Tara...

...you are no where near ready for the Amazing Race! From the second we got in the car to begin our vacation, we pretended we were running the Amazing Race. We weren't more than a couple blocks from home when Jon said, "Jon and Tara, you're team number one!" We've always thought we would make the prime candidants for the race. We met in a foreign country, Jon speaks three languages, I'm terrified of flying and would use the opportunity of the race to overcome that and we both claim to have a very keen sense of direction. Sounds good so far, right? Add to that that we consider ourselves a good team, we work well together. But our vacation showed us that we aren't as ready as we thought.

We walked in circles several times in Boston--even with a map in hand, we missed the turn to Niagara Falls and most devastating, missed our connecting flight to the finish line! (That wasn't our fault, just our bad luck, but luck plays a big part when you're running the Amazing Race!) Jon says if we were really running the race, he would ask for directions more but since there was no million dollar prize in our case, why sacrifice your pride? We need to brush up on those map skills but we really are a good team and it was an "Amazing" vacation! I truly left every care at home and enjoyed every minute!

We flew home out of Philidelphia and were scheduled to have a lay-over in SLC. A young boy traveling alone got ill just as we made our way to the tarmac for take-off. All medically trained passengers were called to the front of the plane to determine if he was well enough to fly or if he should deplane. They took a very long time to decide that he needed to be let off the plane. That meant that we had to taxi back to the gate to let him off. This whole process took such a long time that the plane needed to be refueled before we could leave again. We finally got cleared to leave and then the runways experienced a very high volume of traffic so we were stuck in a line of planes waiting to take-off. In the end, we arrived in Salt Lake just 5 minutes after our connecting flight had left. Delta put us up in a hotel and gave us meal vouchers. The up-side to all of this was that we got to see Sarah and Maureen, Jon's sisters. They live close to the airport and even though it was 10:30 at night, they still wanted to meet for a late dinner. It was fun to see them!


There's only one thing left to do before bringing this whole "travel log" thing to an end. That is, to pay tribute to the Wonder Woman who made it all possible. Grandma did all the basics like feeding, clothing and transporting my children but she also managed to keep up the housework, play games, pass off scout requirements, help with homework, stay on top of Caleb's three medications (he was quite ill when we left) and even complete a few projects around the house! The kids were not only well taken care of, they had a fabulous time with Grandma! The words "Thank you" cannot sum up the gratitude we feel for the opportunity you gave us to be together and escape life as we know it. Thanks so much, Mom!

Travel Log Part 6: Philadelphia

Our last and final stop (or so we thought) was to be in Philadelphia. We planned to fly out of "Philly" so we spent the last day seeing the historic sites of Philadelphia. Tara's sister Erin, lives in Bear Delaware which is only 30 miles from downtown Philadelphia. We have been staying with them the past few days. They live in such a great location to visit many of these areas as day trips.

We have thoroughly enjoyed our East Coast trip and felt we have seen and done so much. Here are some pictures from Philadelphia.

The free tour of Independence Hall was out of their allotted tickets for the day when we arrived so we opted for a not-so-free buggy ride around town. It was fun.

Independence Hall

Carpenters Hall - It was here that the First Continental Congress with delegates from 12 Colonies met in 1774.



This is a replica of the home where Thomas Jefferson spent the summer of 1776 writing the Declaration of Independence.


This is the Revolutionary War Memorial monument and the tomb of the "original" unknown soldier.

Travel Log Part 5: Lancaster County, PA

Lancaster county is the home of many Amish and Mennonite people. We traveled all throughout the countryside visiting Amish shops and seeing how they live. They all travel with horse and buggy and use no electricity to generate power. Most are dairy farmers and they work the ground in the same manner that their forefathers have for centuries.

We visited Nickel Mines, PA. This was the location of that awful tragedy where 5 Amish school girls were shot and killed. I was impressed with Pres. Faust's talk on forgiveness and he spoke on their innate quality that the Amish have in their ability to forgive others so willingly as part of their faith. What an admirable quality! One I don't think I possess. I am sure they have been hurting after experiencing such a horrific tragedy, but they have not let it derail them in their unwavering beliefs on being a Christ centered people. We happened along the site of the new schoolhouse that has been built. The old one was bulldozed away you couldn't tell where it stood.

Amish buggy

You come across many buggy's as this is their primary means of transportation. You just slowly pass them on the left...

Plowing the fields

 

Amish countryside

 

Today was such a sunny day and it seemed everyone was taking advantage to wash and dry their clothes. How would you like to have this "automatic clothes dryer"?

 

Amish children playing at the schoolyard.

 

We stopped for some homemade root beer and potato chips. We drove up to this Amish farm and they had these items for sale right outside their house. We wish we would have gotten pictures of their kids. They were so cute in their little black dresses etc... but felt that would have been too much of an invasion of their privacy.

 

This is E.J. our buggy driver. He took us on a 4 mile tour around several Amish farms.

 

We had a good time on the buggy ride.

Travel Log Part 4: Gettysburg

We received an amazing history lesson in Gettysburg. We hired a tour guide to drive us around the battlefield. He gave us a very informative and interesting tour. He clearly painted the picture of the three day battle, talking us through every step of the events that unfolded at Gettysburg. I feel that I know more Civil War history now than I have ever known. We both really enjoyed this stop on our trip.

This is the train station where Lincoln arrived to deliver his famous address just four months after the bloodiest battle of the Civil War.

The monument to Lincoln near the site where the Gettysburg Address was given.

On the battlefield of day one. This spot was won by the Confederates. In the background is the peace monument with an eternal flame. It's made from materials from Alabama and Maine showing unity of North and South.

Part of the battlefield of day three. Monuments show where the battle lines met. The direction the monuments face show the direction the soldiers were facing when confronting the enemy.

Army regimens were divided by state and so all of the monuments at Gettysburg honor each state. This was the statue done for the state of North Carolina. The sculptor is the same person who also did Mt. Rushmore. Our tour guide said that 1 in every 4 soldiers that were killed at Gettysburg were from North Carolina. Not necessarily that there were more from North Carolina than any other state, but they were involved in the last days fighting in the doomed Pickett's charge where confederate soldiers gave one last attempt to win at Gettysburg with an all out charge into the middle of the union line. They were pounded by heavy artillery from three sides. This failed attempt at Gettysburg is often termed the "the high tide" of the Confederate army. Meaning they had reached their pinnacle and the final two years of the war the Confederates were never the same.
(Tara is not going to like that I am being too wordy, but I found this all very interesting.)


The Pennsylvania state monument. It is the biggest monument of all, probably because the battle took place in Pennsylvania. Lincoln is on the left with General George Meade on the right. It was noted on the tour that the leader of the Confederate Army, Robert E. Lee at the beginning of the war was given the choice to lead the Union Army. He knew General Meade as they both were generals in the US Army before the Civil War and both attended West Point. Lee turned down the offer because he could not fight against his native Virginia. Lee, lost his 30 year pension, he lost his home in Virginia. Because of a grudge a union general, whose name I cannot recall, began burying Union soldiers in Lee's rose garden at his former home. This "rose garden" today is known as Arlington National Cemetery.

Travel Log Part 3: Palmyra

We pulled ourselves away from the falls and made the two hour drive to Palmyra. We were a little crunched for time but were still able to fit in all that we wanted to see.

Here we are at the Smith Family Farm, in the tiny log house that Joseph Smith shared with his large family.

The Sacred Grove. We were the only people there. It was quiet, peaceful and easy to feel the special spirit of this place.

Because of the movies and pictures, I always imagined the grove as very green and lush. I'm sure it's gorgeous in the summertime, but as I thought about it, it is currently "early in the spring" and "early in the spring" in 1820 could have looked exactly like this. Perhaps it wasn't in full bloom and green when Joseph knelt there?

We had a great tour of this historic site! It was very interesting and informative.

This is the monument of the Angel Moroni on top of the Hill Cumorah.

The Palmyra Temple. This picture was taken from the Smith Family Log Home. It's amazing to think that a temple now stands in view of the place where it all started! After we took the various tours we were shown the new Joseph Smith movie at the visitor's center. It was really great. We were the only ones in the theatre and I got my own personal box of tissue! :)

Since this was the beginning of the road trip part of our vacation, I had to get a shot of Jon driving. We have the priviledge of driving a BRIGHT blue Pontiac Vibe! When we finished in Palmyra we drove about three hours to Scranton, PA. to stay for the night. We wanted to stop in at the Scranton branch of the Dunder Mifflin "Office" to say "hi" to Michael and the gang, but it was late and I'm sure they were all home for the day. :)