Tiger shirts

When my brother went to California on his mission he found a shirt that has a giant tiger face on it and it has become his favorite shirt.  He wears it all the time.  Then I got some hand me down clothes for Merrick and when I went through them, I found a shirt that had a tiger on it.  Ever since then, I try to have Merrick wear that shirt when he is with his Uncle Dallin.  The other day we got a picture of them together.

Merrick loves his Uncle Dallin.  He is really the only other guy that Merrick with go to and let him hold.  They are so cute. 

Crazy kids that I love

Kayton's funny faces/eyes

 Dancing to movie music

Talking with Daddy

Playing before bed

He took this picture himself

Playing a Kinect game at game night

They figured out the game of grabbing onto our legs and we walk them around the kitchen

Family Day Date

So I was looking at an ad in the newspaper and found that there was a model train exhibit downtown so I talked Nate into it.  On our way there we saw one of those traveling carnivals set up too so we made a fun day out of it.  We started out watching the model trains.  They had a big track set up with about 5 different trains driving around that Kayton loved watching.  Then there was a guy there selling a bunch of model trains and while I was looking around he asked me what I wanted and I told him I just wanted a cheap little train that didn't really work and he showed me one that was a little banged up that was perfect and he even threw in a passenger car all for $5.  

We got done there and walked down to the little carnival they had.  I felt bad because Merrick couldn't go on any rides because he was too short, but Kayton had a lot of fun.  He went on a car ride, walked through a fun house with Nate, and did a jungle gym house.  After he did the rides, we stopped and let him throw the bean bags one time and the guy was nice enough to give him a little stuffed animal for not hitting anything.  

 Afterwards, we went out to lunch and got Sonic.  Burgers and kids meals are awesome!  The whole day cost as much if not less than it would have been for us to get a sitter and go out on a date by ourselves so I feel like it was a great day.  I love family time.  

At the park

I am so glad that it is warm again.  We have been cooped up in this house for so long and now we get to go out and go to the park.  Kayton figured out how it make the park more fun.  Now when we get there he climbed up the play set and goes down the slide, then he proceeds to take his shoes and socks off and climb up the slide.  Merrick of course follows in his example and so now they spend so much time running around without their shoes on.  

We also learned if we go at the right time of day then the sprinklers will be on and they can play in that too.  

We also like to walk around and I love that part cause Merrick will hold my hand.

New job

It's become that time of year where teachers decide if they are going to stay on for the next school year or apply and hope for other jobs.  Well, we decided to look for another job and we got one.  Nate is going to be teaching in Show Low.  It will be the same job that he did while he was student teaching there which was junior high band and orchestra and general music in Linden.  It took me a while to be ok with this decision, but it's made and done.  Nate is really looking forward to it and I'm looking forward to having him be happier when he comes home at the end of the day.  We are also looking forward to being back by family which we realized from living in Winslow that is something that we need.  Nate will be able to continue to do the White Mountain Symphony and we have lots of friends there too.  Even though things are hard in school districts right now with budgets, I think things will be ok.  We called up our old landlord and got a rental already in the same neighborhood that we use to live in.  It's affordable and really nice and I am looking forward to it.  We will probably be moving the first or second week of June and try to get settled and get a summer job.  Things are changing and I am hoping that it will all be good.

Ducks

We have been going up to Flagstaff a lot for different doctor appointments lately and one of the times we were there I got the kids all excited to go see the ducks.  They asked me about it all morning and on the car ride there.  We finally got there and it was so cute.  

 Kayton followed the ducks around and threw sticks at them.  I think he only hit them once or twice. 

Then both of them together threw sticks in and Kayton would throw it and say "Go get it ducks".  Then Merrick would throw the sticks and say "Bye bye stick".  Now Merrick sees the ducks and calls them quack quack.  

Boy Scouts

Nate and I are over the cub scouts in our ward and we do all 3 groups.  We had our Pinewood Derby on Friday and we combined with 2 or 3 other wards in our area.  It was a lot of fun.  It was my first time being a part of a Pinewood Derby and we had 9 boys participate in it.  The winner was one of our boys, Boston.  We had such a great turn out and I loved watching them have fun. 

Another fun thing we did with the boys was take them to the ambulance center and let them get a tour.  They got to see inside an ambulance and see their little house where they stay when they are on duty.  The last half hour they stayed in the living room and learned about how to treat shock patients and things like that.  They loved it and they learned a lot.  

Halfway done

This is a great weekend for me, I am halfway done with my treatment to get rid of the Hepatitis C in my body.  It has been a rough 3 months.  I have been taking 3 different types of medication which are Incivek, Ribosphere, and Pegasys.  I had to take the Incivek 3 times a day at certain times and I had to eat 20 grams of food with it each time.  It's been rough to do that all the time, but it has gone by a lot faster than I thought it would.  Now I can stop taking the Incivek and just take the other two medicines for the next 3 months.  

The hardest part has been the side effects from the medicines.  I have been super nauseous and anemic and I itch like crazy.  Some days I just don't have any energy or if I do I can only do things in small doses.  I hate that I have been super lazy these past 3 months, but it is what I needed to do to try and feel good.  I am just glad that I am able to be treated and that I am halfway through.  The up side too is that I had a blood draw a couple weeks ago and it shows that I am technically cured.  There is no trace of the Hepatitis in my body, but I do need to finish out the treatment to ensure that it stays gone.  This does mean though that I only have to do the treatment for 6 months rather than 12.  I am so excited about that! 

I want to publicly thank my husband and kids and my mom for being so supportive through these last few months of hard times.  I just never know how I am going to feel when I wake up in the morning, so I am grateful that these people are here and can deal with whatever happens.  Nate has been so helpful with helping me with the kids above and beyond what he normally does and I'm grateful that my kids are ok with me sometimes having to say that I can't because I just don't feel good right now.  Here is to the next 3 months!