Maw Maw in Miami

Maw Maw came to visit us our last week in Miami. Here are some of the highlights of our time with her.

We went to Miami Beach and the kids found a playground. Needless to say, that is where we spent the majority of our time that day.

Miriam loved lounging in the chair swing.

Luke liked stepping from each step to the next.
Miriam has finally overcome her fear of slides!

We also spent 2 days at Bill Baggs beach. Maw Maw was so helpful in getting the kids to eat at our picnic.
This beach had the calmest water. Luke hated the beach in Dominica, but the calm water here helped him overcome his fear of the waves.

I loved this view of the lighthouse too at this beach!

Maw Maw and Miriam liked sitting by the shore and playing.

No sand eating this time just playing!

We also took a trip to the Everglades with Diana and Kairi. Here's a baby alligator we saw...they still look scary to me at this size.

Luke and Kairi are great friends. They were holding hands while we pushed them back to the van.

Everyone survived their encounters with the alligators! Yes!

I loved having my Mom visit a whole week with us. She is so funny and the kids absolutely adore her. She even put her air mattress in between their beds so that she could be close to them even at night. What a brave woman. We will get to spend more time with her in October when the new baby comes. We can't wait to see you again Maw Maw!

Arm Update

This morning Luke got the hard cast put on. While the bones looked a little crooked still, the doctor seemed confident that they would grow straight within 6 months to a year. So now Luke will be in this cast for 6-8 weeks. Arrgh! No swimming for us!

Afterwards we went to the Supermall for the kids to play. No cast can stop The Luke! While Luke and Miriam were standing on top of one of the structures an older lady next to me just turned her head and said, "I can't bear to watch that kid with the cast on top of that!" I guess she thought that he was destined for another broken arm by being up there. Anyway, Luke is adjusting well to his new Iron Man arm and trying to be as silly and cute as always.

Luke's Broken Arm

Today we had our first ER experience. Luke tripped and landed on his arm this afternoon. When I picked him up I realized that his arm was crooked and immediately proceeded to freak out. (I am really good at that.) We rushed him to the hospital and after the x-rays the doctor told us that he had fractured two bones in his arm. They put his right arm in a temporary cast and later this week we will go to an orthopedic doctor and have a regular short cast put on. For now Luke is handling it remarkably well. At first he was upset but after the x-rays he was talking and telling the doctor all about Iron Man and our recent trip to the zoo. Luke always has a positive attitude and I have been so impressed with his character through this whole ordeal. I need to be more like him.

I feel so fortunate that we are staying at Grandma's house right now because Miriam was able to stay home while we went to the ER. Apparently, Miriam was upset about her brother getting hurt. Grandma said that Miriam kept saying "Luke hurt" after we left. Grandma and Miriam said a prayer for Luke and this seemed to help Miriam feel better too. Later after we had been home for a while, she just walked up to Luke and gave him a hug and kiss. Let's cross our fingers and hope her sympathy lasts throughout the week.

So far everything looks like it will heal well. Now I just have to follow-up on all the promises I made to Luke on the way to the ER. I told Luke that we would get him the Batcave that he wanted if he would be brave. We were making him work for it but I buckled under the stress of having him get hurt. So stay tuned to our future adventures with his cast.

Woodland Park Zoo

We headed to Woodland Park Zoo today with our friends and their children. We had quite the entourage of children...Luke, Miriam, Dallin, Shayla, Vincent, Eden and Isis. While waiting for everyone to arrive at the zoo, Luke and Miriam enjoyed playing on the playground.

Luke has found a new friend...Shayla. They enjoyed holding hands throughout their exploration of the zoo.
Once again Dad loves to race with Miriam in the stroller. Here he is chasing down Luke and Shayla.

Miriam is practicing to help Mommy when the new baby is born by becoming a proficient stroller pusher.

Our zoo of children.

Time for a little refreshment.

It was a great day to be out even though the zoo was super crowded due to the "Mom and Me" event. The kids absolutely enjoyed being around each other and seeing the animals and us adults just enjoyed being outside in the sun.

Morgan's 29th Birthday

Sometimes having a birthday in medical school means not really having a birthday. That was the case this year for Morgan. He was super busy preparing to take the Comp exam thus no fun party. Instead we just had a quiet dinner at home with my mom and the kids and had German Chocolate cake later that night.

Morgan chose his menu...cheese and crackers, root beer and...
a small platter of Chick-fil-a chicken nuggets.
Happy Birthday Morgan and next year will be better!

The Last Supper

Tonight we talked about The Last Supper that Jesus had with His disciples and how Jesus instituted the Sacrament among them.

"Unleavened bread is not so tasty."

Morgan enjoyed the unleavened bread (matzos) more than the rest of us.

Next we had grape juice as a reminder of the blood that Christ would spill for each of us.

I enjoy doing something each day the week of Easter. As the children get older we will elaborate more on each event but for now we just keep it simple. In all of this it is my prayer that my children will realize how much the Savior loves them and that by being obedient we can show our gratitude for the sacrifice He has made for us.

Decorating Eggs and a Practice Egg Hunt

Since my kids love to make things, decorating Easter eggs was a must do activity. They did a great job at dyeing the eggs. I would have taken pictures of that but I was too occupied with keeping the eggs in the dye and not Miriam's fingers. We had Star Wars decorated eggs this year.

Luke once again is the very meticulous decorator.
Miriam had a much more difficult time with the stickers because they would get stuck on her finger rather than the eggs.

Saturday is the Church's egg hunt and I want the kids to be ready! We had several practice egg hunts the following day.

Luke kept asking what was inside the eggs. He seemed a little disappointed that there wasn't any chocolate inside but rather yucky hard boiled eggs.

I think that they are ready to be star egg finders! Stay tuned to see how they do on Saturday!