Idaho Trip-Part 2: Yellowstone (Day 2)

More pictures, and OLD FAITHFUL!!! So beautiful...






Lot's of sleeping in the car









Breathtaking!




We saw a couple of people flyfishing





Old Faithful




A beautiful waterfall in the canyon





The only bison I saw





After the four hour car trip back to Burley, this is how we found our daughter...I couldn't help but take a photo :)

Idaho Trip-Part 2: Yellowstone (Day 1)

So after the reunion on friday, we drove to Burley, where Sean's parents live. We got in late, and had to leave early the next morning, to head to Yellowstone. On the trip up, we weren't an hour into the drive, and I started to have severe pelvic pain, and I got hot, dizzy, and naseous. I was also scared, and we didn't know what was going on. The pelvic pain was so bad, that I couldn't sit still in the car. Sean pulled over at the next rest stop, and wanted me to walk with him for a bit. I could barely move, but he managed to get me to a secluded area, and gave me a blessing. Sean's dad was waiting in the car with Tara, while we did this. Sean had a feeling that everything was okay, and that it was partially a blood sugar thing. Especially when I was visibly shaking. I got to a point where it was all too much...the nausea, the pelvic pain, the dizziness-the constant feeling that I was going to pass out. I remember standing in the building at the rest stop, thinking that I did not want to be conscious for even one more second: I felt I just couldn't handle it anymore. Sean was smart enough to force me to eat a few grapes that we had in the car, and between that, and the air conditioner blasting, I began to feel better as we drove on. However-although the sypmtoms had subsided for the most part, I still had some pelvic pressure that didn't feel right, and it lasted the rest of the day. Even once we arrived at our lodge at Yellowstone, and after an afternoon of seeing certain parts of Montana, and some beautiful sights-I didn't feel quite right. So later that evening, after trying to rest for a bit; Sean asked me to call my doctor, just to see what the source of it all was. I spoke to the doctor filling in for mine, and after describing everything that had happened that day, and answering a bunch of her questions, she said I need to get to the nearest ER, and quickly. She was concerned about it being an ectopic pregnancy, and didn't want to chance it. I tried to stay calm, and asked her what the odds are it was something else. She said with what I described, and the fact that I was only 6 weeks pregnant-the odds were high enough, and she didn't want to risk it. So after I hung up with the doctor, I fell apart. I managed to explain to Sean what she had said, and he and my mother in law rushed me to Madison Memorial Hospital in Rexburg. It was the closest hospital, and took just over half an hour to get to. After a long wait, the ER doctor who was also an OB/GYN came in. He explained that they couldn't do any testing, because I wasn't far enough along; and that we pretty much had to wait it out. He said that if I miscarry, it wouldn't be through any fault of my own. He said that all we could do was wait. One comforting thing he said though is that he didn't think it was an ectopic, because of the location of the pain. The baby had just implanted low, and he said that with an ectopic, I'd feel sharp pain on the left or right side, or both. After explaining some more things in detail, he wrote a doctors note to take it easy, and rest often. So we headed back to the lodge, and went to bed.

The next day, we saw plenty of beautiful sights, and so many amazing things at Yellowstone. We didn't see as many animals as we thought, because it was the 4th of July weekend, and it was overcrowded with people. But we had fun, and got to see Old Faithful, and awesome things like that.









This photo was hanging on the wall in the front of the lodge, as you walk in. I thought it was so fascinating, having a piece of history on the wall.











Tara dancing on the windowsill in our room at the lodge!









The water is SO CLEAR!!!

















Eating ice cream in Montana....







I thought this t-shirt was hilarious, until a few days after we left; some guy was killed by a bear outside Canyon Village. Now I think it's in poor taste...








This is what we found in our bed at the end of the day-so darling...

Idaho Trip-Part 1: The Reunion

So our most recent trip to Idaho was an eventful one, to say the least. There were lots of fun things planned, lots of time in the sun, tons of playing in the water; and too many fun pictures to count. I'll give you the highlights...

To begin-the day before we left for Idaho, I found out we are going to have another baby. So we were on cloud nine to start :) We had flown out on June 30th, and stayed the night in Boise with Sean's sister. His family was so excited, and Tara's cousin Rylee was already suggesting that if it's a girl, we name her Lily! She's so cute...

Then on July 1st, we had an early birthday surprise for Sean. His birthday is in November, so you can tell how surprised he was to receive his surprise months early. Since we were dating, I've heard so many stories about his college days, and how much he misses all his buddies. So when I found out that the majority of them would be in Boise this summer, with the exception of a couple of them; I figured I'd gather them all together in a local park in Boise to surprise Sean. The couple that wouldn't be in Boise already, said it wouldn't be a problem to purchase tickets for the event. (Thanks again Mike and Laurel!) All his friends and family were in on it, and Sean was clueless as to what was coming. I had spent a few months planning, and gathering everyone from New York, Reno, D.C., Nampa, Boise, etc. to be there for Sean. So when we arrived at Julia-Davis Park on Friday, he spotted all his friends and was completely bowled over. And though admittedly he regretted not having more than a few hours to visit with them all, he was so glad I had gone to the trouble. So that was fun to see :)



How Sean and Laurel spent much of their time in college...haha


When no one was looking, Tara snatched Evan's soda-she had her second sip of soda that day, before we took it away :)


She loves her Uncle Jake...




I love how Tara and her cousin Rylee are smiling as they go through photos together-ones that Rylee took :)



Hilary and Jesse's little girl Olivia, is so adorable! Her and Tara became fast friends...They played together almost the whole time.





The whole crew: Sean and all his college buddies, including the newest generation :)

Hygiene fun...

So this morning while getting Tara ready for church, I was brushing her teeth. This last week or so she's been expressing her love of the flavor toothpaste she has by saying "It's yummy!" every single time I brush her teeth. This morning however, made me crack up for some reason. I started brushing, and this was the conversation:

Tara: "It's yummy!"

Me: "You like the flavor, huh?"

Tara: "Yeah-it's good."

Why did this make me laugh? She's just so honest, and so adorable...I love that girl :)

"Mommy, I like it!"

So a moment ago, Tara was put on time-out because she wouldn't listen about a safety issue. We had been listening to the radio for the previous hour, and that song "Bleeding Love" by Leeona Lewis was playing. About 30 seconds into her time-out, I look over to see her still sitting; but she was rocking out to the song! (I have yet to take a video of the way she dances, so you guys can see-but she gets her little arms all into it and everything.) So there she was, sitting; but dancing to the song. All of a sudden she looked over at me, huge grin on her face, and said "Mommy! I like it!" And went back to dancing...*sigh* Why does she have to be so cute?

An eventful saturday, to say the least...

So this is the first time I've sat down since I woke up at 6:00 this morning. I got up early, because my mom was coming by once she got off her overnight shift at work to give our car a jump. She's so wonderful! It wouldn't start yesterday, and we had a lot of food shopping and other errands to run today. So she gave us a jump, car started, and then we went shopping. First stop: Wal Mart. When the shopping was complete, the car wouldn't start again. Boo...We called our friend Edie, who came to give us another jump. While we were waiting for her to come, Sean and I were discussing how to handle the situation. We had been given the car for a dollar from my stepdad, a couple years ago. It's always had problems, sometimes we thought too many. We need a vehicle though in the meanwhile, until we can get a better one. It's had so many problems lately though, that Sean was of the opinion that if the jump didn't work-just having it towed to the junkyard. The car wasn't even worth the money it would cost to get it fixed. We figured instead of it sitting in the complex for heaven knows how long, to just scrap it like had been suggested to us before. We honestly though there was nothing left to salvage. At this point, Edie arrived, and after about 5 or 10 minutes of seeing if the jump would work; nothin. So, she called AAA; and they sent out a tow truck; along with the news that the service comes with a free diagnostic. (Thank you Edie!!!) However, before the tow truck arrived; a vehicle pulled up next to us, and I heard a familiar voice. I looked to the right, and there was dear friend Mr. Randy Garver. In town, at Wal Mart, on the same day at the same time we were. Coincidence? Nah. Even in the crappiest situation-Randy & Kim always make us smile and laugh. So while Edie and Sean and I were still fiddling with the jumper cables, I was chatting with Randy a bit. All of a sudden, white steam started to rise from the hood of his car, and I saw this greenish fluid GUSHING from the undercarriage of his car! It was like a wave of what I only assumed was anti-freeze coming like an ocean wave crashing and spilling all over the parking lot. Although an unfortunate situation, I don't think I'll ever forget all of our reactions to that. The look on Randy's face was a combination of shock and horror. Randy's kids Lizzie and Kyle were in the backseat, and had no idea what was going on. Honestly-my very first though was "Is his car going to explode?" lol My naive self, I had never seen a vehicle do that; and I had no base of reference for if there was a threat of danger to this or not. The thought that followed immediately after was "grab his babies!" Mom instinct, whatever-I was going to act first and ask questions later. I saw Randy reacting with a calm measured attitude-and get to work checking out what had happened. When he lifted his hood, and didn't panic-I realized there was no present danger. Haha Wow. At this point Kim showed up, with her purchases; and was caught up on both why the Martindales were broken down, and what had happened to her car. Poor woman! The tow truck was due to show up any minute, but when you have three kids (Lizzie Kyle and Tara) who are hungry and restless; "any minute now" means nothing to them. So Sean Randy and Kim took the kids inside for food, while I stayed and waited with Edie for the tow to arrive. A few minutes later it was there, and after a diagnostic on everything, and a clean bill of health for the car; the guy from Ray's explained that the parts of the battery where you attach the jumper cables (excuse my lack of knowledge of anything when it comes to cars) was corroded, and just needed to be cleaned, which he had done. We had told him our plan, that if it was an issue with the battery, to tow it to our apartment. If it was a connectivity issue, however; to tow it to a junkyard. He said "Nothing's wrong with your car, just the corroded area which I cleaned. I wouldn't put your car out to pasture quite yet!" Yay for us!!! Super good news. Anyway, our car was running; and we still had a couple of hours of errands ahead of us, mainly food shopping. At this point, Randy had called his dad and Roy and Susan had showed up. We didn't want to leave until we knew they would be okay. Randy said they were going to take their car to Meineke, and that they'd be okay. So before we left, Randy made sure to thank us for breaking down. haha He was convinced that if he hadn't spotted us, and stopped to spend a few moments with us; the valve in his car would have burst once they were further down the road, making the situation a bit more difficult. Leave it to Randy Garver to see the bright side of a tough situation-he's always been like that! So anyway, off we go to Winco. After an hour or so of food shopping, we get on the beltline to head home. We see a car broken down on the side of the road with it's hazards on. I told Sean we should stop and see if they need help. We pulled over, and these two guys (early twenties, I assumed) had already started walking in the direction of West 11th. We asked if they needed a jump, and they said they were just out of gas. One of the guys said his mom was waiting at the Wal Mart for them, and they just had to get there. We offered them a ride there, and after dropping them off; headed back home. After unloading groceries, dinner, giving Tara a bath and getting her jammies on, and getting some laundry done; I'm relaxing for a few minutes before we get Tara off to bed. So-at the end of the day, we're very grateful for all our blessings. We're grateful for a safe home, the ability to purchase food, our sweet little family, our dear friends and family, the chance we had to help someone else today for all the times we've been helped, and the fact that our car still works and is not sitting in a junkyard quite yet. So yeah...Good day :)

I have a little girl...

Yeah, so I discovered something this morning: I have a little girl. Up until now, I owned a toddler :) lol Today, however: I have a grown up, independent, smart little girl. Well, maybe not ALL the way grown up...But she sure surprises me some days!

She's been potty training for some months now, and she alerts us when she has to go #1, and holds it in until she's on the actual potty (SO proud of her). She went #2 in the potty for the first time night before last, well before we thought she'd be ready for that.

This morning, upon waking up: she told me she had to go "Poo-Poo". She usually says that AFTER she goes poo-poo in her diaper. But today she wanted to go in the potty-and she did. After she was done, she said "shower?" "shower?" So she took a shower, all by herself! She needed help of course, washing: but usually she takes a bath, or showers with me. This is the second time though that she's mentioned wanting to stand in there all by herself. And she did a great job! Fast forward to once she'd dried off, and in her high chair eating cheerios (about 10 minutes later). She's sitting there, and this conversation takes place:

Tara: "Mommy?"

Me: "Yes, honey?"

Tara: "I took a shower!"

Me: "Yes! You sure did! You're such a big girl!"

Tara: "I did good!"

Me: After laughing "Yes, you did baby! Mommy's so proud of you..."

[After spilling a couple of cheerios onto her tray while taking a bite]

Tara: "Uh oh! I did a mess!"

Me: "It's okay-we'll clean it up when you're done."

Tara: "Yeah, it's okay."

[She takes another bite of cheerios.]

Tara: "Mmm, it's yummy!"


*sigh*

When did this girl grow up?