Thrush

Me and Everly have been struggling with thrush.  Okay, I have been the one struggling.  She is fine.  In our many attempts to rid ourselves of it's grasps we broke out the gentian violet.  It is a dark dark purple (looks black in the bottle) liquid that you put inside baby's mouth to get rid of thrush and it stains EVERYTHING.  She looked like she had a goatee because it would leak out of her mouth with drool.  It stained several outfits and blankets as well.  

One of the times I put it in her mouth I didn't twist the lid on all the way.  I actually had the thought, "you should hurry and put that lid on before you forget."  Well, I did not listen to that prompting and at some point it was knocked onto the ground and was not discovered until the entire contents and had had plenty of time to soak deep into the carpet.  This picture was taken after I soaked through about 20 rags that I would rinse and soak up again. When I first discovered it, it was a black spot.  I finally borrowed my friend Stacy's carpet cleaner to try to clean it up.  It was seriously a disaster.  It stained all the brushes on her carpet cleaner and spread the purple into a much larger region.  After several hours and changing the water tank about 20 times, I got it to the point where it is just a dull purple.  I learned an important lesson.  Listen to promptings the first time!!!  And if you don't, there is always repentance, but it takes a long time and can be really horrible, so just do the right thing in the beginning.

Happy 10th Birthday Teagan!

Happy birthday to our old and wise Teagan!  He is so much fun and has a way of cheering up everyone around him.  He wanted a batman cake and we tried to make it a tall building, but it didn't really work out, but it was chocolate and cream cheese deliciousness.  On his birthday we went out to Chuck-o-Rama for lunch and then came home for cake and ice cream.

This year Teagan got to have a birthday party with his friends.  He requested a treasure hunt that went all around Shelley.  It was a fun group of boys and they had a lot of fun running around and being silly.  The places they went were: The basement, the Heath's to drink pop, the backyard to shoot balloons with BBguns, the laundry room, Mr. Pizza for pizza and pop, Arctic Circle for ice cream cones, Broulims for cupcakes and back home for a treasure box full of wrapped presents that they got to play white elephant with.  I think the party was a hit, happy birthday buddy!

How old are you: 10
Who is your best friend: Quinn Dixon
3. What is your favorite thing to do? play football
4. What is your favorite color? Green and Hazel
5. What is your favorite food? Chicken Cordon Bleu
6. What do you like to do with your family?  Go on Bike rides
7. What is your favorite toy? Space Rover with all the little guys
8 What is your favorite sport? football
9. What do you want to be when you grow up? Some sort of Doctor
10. How old will you be when you get married? Hopefully 22 or 23
10.5. Who do you have a crush on? Mary (so embarrassed)
11. How many kids are you going to have?  I don't know, 2 or more
12. What is your favorite book? Harry Potter and the Sorcerers Stone
13. What is your favorite show or movie? HP 7
14. What makes you happy? Dad
15. What makes you sad? Mom, no hahahaha.  When I don't get to do stuff and have action
16. What do you think about before you fall asleep?   I usually think about adventures.
17. What is your favorite part of your birthday?  When I chugged two cups of soda (at the Heath house)
18. What is your favorite scripture story?  The Brother of Jared and the special stones
19. What is something that you think you will accomplish before you are 11? To become a better Left Corner and make interceptions and tackle better.
20. What is one word that describes you?  Amazing

Pants Problems

Teagan has been struggling in the pants department lately and it has been the source of a lot of laughter for Zac and I.  A few weeks ago it took 4 tries to get pants that would work:

1. Teagan comes up with pants that have gaping holes in the knees, we asked him to go and change into nicer pants.

2. Teagan comes up in what looks like girl's bell bottoms.  They were super tight, except at the ankles.  We didn't understand why they looked so funny, until I figured out they were pants that were meant for Eloise to grow into and they must have found their way to his drawer.  After laughing hysterically we sent him down to change again.

3. Teagan appears in pants that are clearly several sizes too small, they must have missed the last time I went through his clothes and took out what he'd outgrown.  they were several inches above the ground and super tight skinny jeans.  

At this point I went downstairs and helped him pick out pants that would work, there were several options, he just kept grabbing ones that didn't.  We all laughed pretty hard at the mix ups.

Fast forward a couple weeks, we went to stay at Jeff and Julie's house and there was a pair of pants on the dresser for us.  I didn't look very close and thought they must have been Teagan's that we had left another time.  They were actually hand-me-downs from Kate for Eloise.  When we got home I put them away in Teagan's drawer and found him like this a few mornings later.  He was not super thrilled to be experiencing pants problems again, but Zac and I thought it was hilarious again, awesome parenting at its finest.

New Years Goals

With Jamaica only two months away we have started a rigorous workout regimen to prepare.  I love to paddle board and kayak and when I did those things over the summer, I was so exhausted and sore for so long, I don't want that to happen again.  Time to build some muscles!  Eloise and Adeline love to workout with me to my workout videos.  They also love to give helpful tips, especially when I'm "not doing the same thing as the person on the TV."  "Mom, you are supposed to jump higher," "Mom, you're supposed to touch your toes."  "Mom, you're supposed to do more pushups and not lay down."  Kids are so helpful.  They are also really funny.

Mormon Tabernacle Choir Christmas Concert

We were lucky enough to get tickets to The Choir's Christmas Concert again this year!  Julie and Jeff also had tickets so we went and stayed with them and rode the train to downtown.  It was pretty crowded and we all had to stand and the kids had a blast pretending to "fall over" whenever the train made a crazy turn.  My mom got 4 tickets and took her friend Bob and Whitney and Joe, and my dad got tickets and took Beth, Rachel and John.  None of us were sitting together, but we all waved and saw each other in passing which was fun.  

The actual concert was so amazing, I loved it so much.  Zac and Teagan liked it, but decided that next year I can just go by myself with my sisters or something.  It was a little too long for them.

Fantasy vs Reality on home projects

With a new baby on the way, I have become hyper focused on the basement.  I tend to do this and I am trying so hard to pace myself and not put my family on the back burner.  It is so hard for me when the end is growing so near!  I try to get the kids involved and working with me and take time to be involved with other things.  But the reality is that most of my time is spent in the basement working during the day.  

One day I decided to have the girls help me paint so that we could have a magical day working together.  They were so excited about it and loved helping.  The only trouble was that Adeline couldn't seem to keep the paint on the right walls and Eloise got so much paint in her hair.  

Usually, the reality is that I work from 9-11 am and the girls reign free upstairs and generally play really well together, then I come up (and try to not flip out about the mess) and we have lunch and switch the laundry and read books, and then I work again after lunch while Addy naps and Eloise watches a movie or colors or something.  One day their free reign upstairs didn't go very well.  I came upstairs and found that Adeline had taken off all her clothes and tried to swing like Tarzan on our curtains and broke them.  Luckily, I listen to excellent podcasts while I work and I had been listening to one about not being surprised when people in our lives (kids, friends, parents, spouse...) do things that they have a tendency to do and have done many times in the past...  So I wasn't surprised, I wasn't particularly happy about the events, but at least there was no initial shock and freak out.  She is two and was left unsupervised for a couple hours, she also has a vivid imagination and a tendency for destruction, how could I possibly expect anything else then a tarzan swinging from the curtains, especially since they had just watched that movie.  It was almost endearing...almost.

I know that one day we will finish and we're getting so close and it's very exciting.  I'm trying and working so hard to prioritize my time.  The house has definitely been let go, that was an easy one.  I'm trying to hold strong to some quality time with the kids and Zac, making dinner, and reading my scriptures every morning.  We hope to have the carpet in by the 1st of May, it's so close I can almost taste it.

Happy Birthday Mom

I had a fabulous birthday and was spoiled by friends and family and it was one of my favorite birthdays yet.

Dad and Beth had us over for cake and ice cream and dinner with Brian and Elise's family that day which was so nice since we were busy in the basement all day long!  Delicious food and great company.

 

Zac bought me gorgeous flowers and spoiled we with fun presents and my favorite was that he spent the day helping paint the basement.  He considered that to be a lame was to celebrate, but since it was all I wanted, he jumped on board and we finished painting everything except the doors.  I was so thrilled!  It was my favorite present by far!

The new fitness bands, watering can and lipgloss were fun too though!

My good friends Brittney and Stacy surprised me the day before and brought me delicious breakfast and helped me in the basement for a few hours and then took me to a movie later that night.  Zac totally helped orchestrate the whole thing and I felt so loved and had such a great time.  I feel like I've been blessed with so many amazing people in my life!

Happy Birthday Zac!!

Zac turned 34 this year and we had such a fun day celebrating!  We started with presents in the morning, which he gave a superb reaction to. The kids love doing heavy heavy hangover, and love to smash the present down on dad's head.  Everyone laughs and laughs and thinks it's so funny.  

Per Zac's request, we worked in the basement that morning for a bit and then went and partied in Idaho Falls.  We went our first ever family bowling trip and Eloise creamed us all!  It was a ton of fun.  Then we went to the paramount and watched Moana, which was really good.  Zac sure knows how to party!  That night Zac's parents took us out to dinner at Jaker's and we ate amazing food and had great company.  It was a very fun filled and action packed day for us all.

Update on Zac: So Zac has been trying some new jobs lately and keeps growing and growing.  I'm beginning to see that there is really nothing that he can't do once he puts his mind to it.  Last September he left Manual Solutions to become a therapy director at Life Care Center of Idaho Falls.  He learned so much there and really enjoyed spending more time working as a manager and less time treating patients.  Things were going great there, but another opportunity presented itself and Zac jumped in with both feet.  He is now the Therapy Director at Nuclear Care Partners (NCP) which is a similar job, but this one provides him with bigger growth opportunities in the future.  They are wanting to expand and make an outpatient clinic and Zac will be heading that up in the coming years.  We are still getting used to the new schedule and demands, but overall, he is really happy with the change.  We are so lucky to have him, he supports our family in amazing ways; physically, spiritually and emotionally.  He deserves the happiest of birthdays!

Happy 11th Anniversary

Zac and I were able to go on a big all day date for our anniversary this year.  We ate a delicious late lunch at the amazing Jakers first and then we headed to the mall and other stores to spend some Christmas money that we got from Zac's parents.  It was so fun...although Zac was ready to be done shopping by the end.  Then we headed to Edwards theater and saw "Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them" which was a really fun movie!  It was nice to have a day away with just the two of us.  

These last 11 years have gone so fast and so much is new and different, but a lot is the same.  We love good food, we love to have fun, we love to shop, we love our family and we love each other.

Mormon Tabernacle Christmas Concert

After several years of attempting to get tickets to the annual Choir Christmas concert I finally got some this year!  I was so excited and Zac was a really good sport and came with me.  We went early and went out to eat and then looked at the lights on temple square.

 The music was so spectacular!  Even Zac said that he enjoyed it, and that's saying something!  I just loved it and want to make it a yearly tradition...but maybe it will be more like every 5 years or something.  We were so grateful to Kurt and Shelly for taking the kids for the couple days that we were gone!  Having family close by makes things that much easier.

There is something magical about a weekend with just Zac

and I.  We are able to focus on each other and just have fun together without all the stress.  I know that I can get so worked up when the kids are around and it's nice for me to just simmer down sometimes.  Everytime we get to steal away for a few days I love it so much!  Muah!  Love you Zac!

We got to experience using the UTA trains and that was quite an adventure.  We felt like real city folk.

Flag Football

Teagan LOVES to play football.  It is his favorite sport and we have such a great time watching him! He had a great season and they did really well.

We got him a blue Boise state beanie and he wore it everywhere in honor of football season, to bed, school and his games of course.  He is an awesome athlete and we all love watching him play!

For his first game I had a Relief Society activity at the exact same time so I took him to practice and then Zac traded me off so I could head to the church.  I had been having a horrible day (I can't even remember why) and was really bitter that I was going to have to miss his game for a church thing.  As I was running to my car the spirit told me to turn around and go watch the game for a bit instead of going straight to the activity.  I had responsibilities at the activity so I decided to just be late and catch the first half of Teagan's game.  Right when I showed up, Teagan caught an amazing interception and then a few plays later he scored a touchdown!  I was so excited for him and couldn't stop cheering.  It felt like all my anger and unhappiness just dripped off me and I was ready to go do my responsibilities.  That right there, is a tender mercy.  Those 10 minutes were probably his best 10 minutes of play of the entire season and he didn't even know I was there.  I guess football can bring me happiness after all.  

Witches Brew

I got a great big pot this year for canning huge batches of salsa.  It is amazing!  When I opened it the girls kept climbing inside it because it was so wonderfully large.   I told Eloise that I bought it so that I would have a pot the perfect size for cooking little children and picked up the pot with her inside and took her to the stove.  She wasn't sure if I was joking at first, but then she realized I was just being silly and she loved it.  There was still a nervous edge to her laugh though, like "mom, are you sure you're not going to cook me and eat me up."  What a little darling.

High Adventure

Zac is the Young Men's president in our ward and so he got to plan high adventure for the boys this year.  He took them up to Teton Valley and they camped at his family's property and did high adventuring there.  They took a hike up to packsaddle lake one day to go off the rope swing.  Some of the boys were feeling nervous about it so Zac had to show them how it was done.  He went on the rope and dove off into the water.  The boys made fun of him and said that the dive wasn't that good and that he didn't go straight in, so Zac of course had to prove them wrong.  He went off a second time and went straight down and his face "got in a fight with the bottom of the lake" as he would say.  He came out and Bishop Bush made sure to get a picture.  

Bishop drove Zac to the Teton Valley clinic and Zac insisted on super glue instead of stitches to save money.  He will now have a scar on his forehead for the rest of his life, but it will all be fine because he saved $100 or so.  haha  Men are so funny.  It's okay though, it makes him look really tough.

When he got home he looked a little gruesome.  He had put some sort of ointment on the rash part to help it heal and it was yellow and looked like his face was oozing.  Me and Teagan pretended like it was no big deal, but Eloise couldn't handle it.  She looked away and said, "I'm sorry dad, I can't look at your face, it makes me want to throw up."  Zac didn't think that was funny, but I know it will be funny later so I'm writing it down!

After the fact (that night, lying awake in bed) I started thinking about how lucky he is to be alive and to not be paralyzed.  I started thinking about what ifs...what if he had gone unconscious and drowned because they didn't realize he was there, what if he had broken his back, what if he had hit lower on his face and gone blind, what if he had knocked his teeth out (I'm so vain).  There have been many people who have become paralyzed by diving into shallow water (the water wasn't even that shallow, he was just really high in the air).  We feel like he was watched over and blessed to hit at an angle instead of straight on.  He had his hands extended which slowed him down and he turned his head last minute which created a terrible road rash, but it made the impact less powerful.  He was blessed, and for that we are so grateful!  Heavenly Father watches over us.

Mother's Day 2016

Zac and the kids are always so sweet on Mother's Day.  I got a delicious breakfast in bed, flowers and Teagan made me the sweetest pillow in school.  It has his handprint on one side and is just really cute.  I could not believe that his teacher had sewn all of them!  What a feat!  It made me cry.  

I love being a mom to these 3 sweet kids.  They are all so unique and sweet and make my life have meaning and purpose.

Spring Soccer

Teagan and Eloise both signed up for spring soccer this year and it was so fun to watch them play!  It was Ellie's first year and she wasn't quite into the competition yet.  She made a little friend, Maggie, and they were a match made in heaven.  Here they are at the first game discovering that they were both four.  

After they realized they were the same age they held hands and skipped around on the field, dodging the ball if it came nearby.  The spectators got quite a big kick out of the cuteness.  By the end of the season they were both trying harder and chasing the ball with the rest of the kids.  Eloise almost scored a few times and got several good kicks in.  She is very excited to sign up again this spring.

I signed up to coach Teagan's soccer team (they were very desperate) and had such a fun time.  Zac spent the games wrangling the girls and sometimes watching Ellie's games if they were at the same time so there are only a few pictures from the entire season.  Teagan really took off this year.  He was on a team with Ashtyn Davis and Haven Ivins and the three of them were an awesome trio.  Teagan was able to score at most of the games and one game he scored 3 different times! At one of the last games he did an awesome slider kick to score.  My favorite part is right after he scores or does an awesome defensive move and he looks over to see if we saw it, and then he sees me screaming for joy and gets embarrassed.  It is so fun to watch him play and watch him having fun.  Teagan loved it and is signed up for indoor soccer this winter and will probably do spring soccer again.  

Teagan (7), Duncan ? (2), Ashytn Davis (5), Kaidan, Kolson (blue under shirt)

Ashtyn (5) Teagan (7)

I was lucky to have my friend, Brittany, helping me.  She is a total expert and gave me a ton of guidance and helped me at the games.  She would have coached, but she had a baby during the season.  

I guess I am now an official soccer mom.  I've waited my whole life for that awesome title.

Big 30!

I had the most wonderful, magical 30th birthday ever.  There are exactly 0 pictures of the whole week, but I'm telling you, it was the best.  Zac went above and beyond to make me feel special and loved.  I feel so lucky to have him.

First of all, Zac came out with a pile of presents on Monday (my birthday was Friday) and told me that this year we would be celebrating birthday week.  Each morning I was able to open a new present until my actual birthday.  This alone was enough to make me giddy, I love a good celebration week.  

On my actual birthday I had the best present, a scavenger hunt!  I absolutely love treasure hunts and Zac knew I would love it.  It took me all over Shelley and each clue came with a caramel cadbury egg.   My buddy, Courtney, took the day off work to save me from babysitting on my birthday and to have fun with me so her and Jordan came along for the fun.  The treasure hunt took me all morning and into the afternoon.  I seriously loved every second.  

Halfway through the day my mom and Grandma Packer came with a beautiful bouquet of balloons and the game "are you smarter than a 5th grader."  We laughed and laughed and it was so fun to play. I loved having visitors!

After this experience I have determined that my love language is quality time.  Never have I felt more loved by Zac than while I did that because I knew that he had put so much time into it for me and I knew he was excited for me to be able to do it.  I didn't even care what was at the end (people kept asking me what the jackpot prize was, were they expecting a car?  I have no idea, but I would have been fine with no prize, the hunt was the part I loved.) Just in case you're curious, it ended at the bakery at Broulims and I got an amazing slice of carrot cake.  

Zac is one of those guys that doesn't need hints and directions for how to buy me a present or celebrate my birthday.  He just comes up with it all on his own.  I actually told him to not worry about a present (I spent a bunch on myself in Vegas).  He is a one of a kind man!

The next day we rented out the paramount and invited our family and friends to come watch Kung fu Panda with us.  Then we were able to go out to eat at Cafe Rio.  

I can say that this year was definitely the best birthday ever.  Zac completely out did himself and I loved it!

As for being 30, I can't imagine why anyone wouldn't want to be 30!  I feel like this is going to be the best decade of my life.  All my kids will still be at home, this will be my prime.  I hope the decade passes slowly because I know it will be my best one, (as long as my kids stay just as sweet and adorable as teenagers).

Here is a selfie, Melissa Ann Daniels, age 30.

Viva Las Vegas!

We had the chance to go on a trip with the Daniels adults to Las Vegas to watch the basketball tournament. It was really fun! 

We stopped at about 11:00 PM at the Virgin River to eat their food. I thought that the whole time everyone was joking about stopping. But I forgot that the Daniels family does not joke about food!

We got taken out to eat at the Belagio by our good friend Matt, a former BYU basketball player who works with Kurt. The food was so yummy, especially the desert!

The Belagio gardens were so beautiful!

Friday night everyone decided to go to the Cirque du Soleil show. Zack and I opted to go to the movies and watch Eddie the Eagle instead. It was so good! We had a really fun time.

The highlight was definitely watching the basketball games! We had amazing seats for both games. The second game we noticed that the front row was empty so we went ahead and just sat there. I loved watching up that close!

I don't know about this picture, i'd like it more if it was Cosmo. Ha ha

Front row seats!

We realized that we were on the TV quite frequently on the front row, so we called grandma and grandpa Durtschi and ask them to turn on the TV. All the kids gathered around and watched us on TV. Anytime someone was shooting a free-throw on our side of the court we started waving and being silly so that they could see. I don't know if they ever did though.

Thank you to Kurt and Shelly for taking this on such an awesome and fun trip! We really had such a fun time, it was so nice to have a break from the normal day to day stuff.

Thank you to my Dad and Beth for taking care of the kids for three straight days! That was such a huge sacrifice and we appreciate it so much! This trip could not have happened without your willingness to watch the kids!  They had such a great time!