Trunk or Treat

Super"thans"

Last Year at the Trunk or treat with Uncle Jeremiah and Aunt Alida.

Bat"mins"

Aren't we so cute.

Jared and I went trunk or treating with the boys. Boy what a difference a year makes. Last year we went with Jeremiah and Alida's family, but they moved so we went to our ward this year. I decided to recycle costumes because I couldn't figure out what I wanted the boys to be for Halloween. Last year Ben was Super"mins" and Jon was Bat"thans". So we just changed costumes. Jon became Super"thans" and Ben was Bat"mins". I guess in this case it was good to have Identical twin boys. The 3t-4t costumes fit this year, but next year there is no way they will fit.

Two hair cuts for my two big 2 year olds.

ON October 20th we had our second hair cut.

As you can see our curls are gone. Mommy and Daddy don't know what to do, we don't even recognize our own kids. They are big boys now and so handsome. I wasn't planning on getting their second haircut done until JT was called a cute little girl in the hospital as he was pushing his shopping cart with a baby doll in it. Maybe it wasn't the curls, but I got so tired of correcting them on him being a boy. Can't boys push shopping carts with dolls??? Also after I got my hair cut Benji was brushing his hair with his hands as if it was his turn to comb his hair. What better time to cut a kids hair when he is interested and going to cooperate. Sherona said she would cut their hair, yeah they did so well. JT was a little tired so he didn't stay in the chair as long, but overall they did great. I don't know how the underline came to be so I can't turn it off sorry.

Benjamin after his haircut.

Benjamin and Jonathan after their haircuts.

Jonathan Smiling from ear to ear showing us the grill.

Sherona cutting Benjamin's hair.

The boys curls in July.

Toddler Beds

Our new bed.
How do the monkeys get out of their bed, here is how see....

Monkeys climbing out of the bed.

My monkeys jumping on the bed.

The boys and grandma, they have claimed their bed for the night.

The boys have been climbing out of their bed so I changed them to toddler beds on Tuesday the 21st. Here are some pictures of the change. I still have yet to have them fall asleep in them at night. I also rearranged the room(not shown in the picture). They do like their beds better without the rails, but they think that their bed is the couch. I think they would love me to pull the couch bed out every night. They thought the couch bed was their trampoline and their bed when grandma and grandpa were here. Oh by the way do you notice our new big 2 year old boy haircuts, we got them on Monday the 20th aren't we so cute. I will post before and after pictures if I can figure out how to down load from my phone. And yes we do miss those curls.

Caught red handed

Or shall I say "orange handed" ? Jonathan

sure misses the nourishment room at the hospital. He now goes into my pantry and finds something to eat. Usually he brings it to me and I will open it for him, but these were already open. I thought these boys were going to eat me out of house and home when they were teens, but I guess with the steroids JT is starting early.

Thank You for all your prayers and concerns

Friday, 10th, 6pm. Daddy reports he just kept lifting his shirt to show them to me.

Friday, 10th, 11:30 am, the start of the rash. Not so bad, who would have thought he would be hospitalized for a rash???

Thanks for all your prayers and concerns. Jonathan Came home on Wednesday, 15th and is doing well. He really likes his medicine except the zantac. I haven't met any kid that will take this medicine without spitting some out. I would like to show you more pictures, but I can't figure how to down load them off my phone.

Saturday 4am.This is what the rash looked like initially when I came home Friday night, just not as many.

Saturday 8pm.

Saturday 8pm.

Saturday 8pm.

Saturday 10am

On Friday the 10th we thought Jonathan was coming down with the Chicken pox. What started as little dots on his belly spread to a severe rash all over his body. Here is a run down of all the excitement.

Friday, 10th, I received a call in the morning from daddy stating that he thought JT had chicken pox because he had some red spots on his belly. The night prior I had started putting them back in their sleepers because its warm when you go to bed, but it is cold when you wake up. I thought maybe it is a heat rash or a reaction to the pj's that might have last been washed at grandma's. I had daddy give the boys a shower just in case it was something on the pj's. Through out the day I received multiple calls from daddy while at work because he thought JT had chicken pox. I was planning on taking JT in on Saturday to the Pediatrician to check it out. But when I got home to my surprise, this was the worst case of chicken pox I had ever seen. He had bright red areas all over his belly and it seamed to be spreading. I couldn't go to bed when my child looked like this. So back to the hospital we went. We got discharged from the Peds ER at 1am with a prescription for steroids and a diagnosis of Erethema Multiform. He wasn't itchy with the rash, but he knew it was there he kept lifting his shirt to show daddy his rash.

Saturday, 11th, I woke up and the rash had spread. You saw the picture of that morning. I went to the pharmacy and got the prescription filled, gave the med, and called the pediatricians office after Jared had looked up on the net about erethema multiform and got the scare of his life. We went to the pediatricians office and they doubled the steroids and recommended benadryl every 4 hours. JT was taking a nap that afternoon and it looked like the treatment was working even before the steroids were doubled. His new and old hives had faded in color, yeah. That night more hives showed up. His hives started itching this morning.

Sunday, 12th, We woke up and JT had rash everywhere, new rash where there wasn't rash, both eyes were swollen, I gave him his meds and told Jared that I was going to go to the Pediatric ER. Jared said that I needed to give the medicine time to work. Even though we were giving the benadryl every 4-5 hrs hives still kept coming. We waited until noon and after giving JT a soda bath and seeing the extent of the rash which wasn't improving, but was worsening we loaded up and went to the ER. They decided to admit JT and give IV steroids, benadryl, zantac(to protect the stomach while on steroids), and oral zyrtec. While in the ER he received zyrtec and the hives seemed to be fading just while we awaited for them to admit us to the peds hem/onc floor. The admitting diagnosis was HSP vs Erethema Multiform. Hives were really itchy and bothering him.

Monday 13th, we decided to make sure benadryl was given every 4 hours because he kept getting new hives. The steroids went from the home dose of 2 times a day to IV dose and 4times a day. With the steroids, zyrtec, and benadryl the hives still came, but they went away after the meds took effect. Dr. Bernstein (Hematologist/Onocologist) believes that we are dealing with Erethema Multiform, which is better than HSP. Oh boy this kid can get his grub on. JT liked getting served breakfast in bed, he also liked the nourishment room down the hall.

Tuesday 14th, I decided that even though the hives were coming back, they were almost cleared up and weren't coming back as severe. I asked to do a oral medicine trial. Jonathan almost failed the oral medicine trial not because the medicine wasn't working, but because the hospital only has elixir in the benadryl and I don't know how much he got because he spit most of it out at me. The steroids would have been a failure to get him to take because initially they ordered the yucky tasting one, but luckily I have a friend Suzanne in the pharmacy which I called her regarding the benadryl and she said if you can get the doctor to write may take home meds then you can go get him some benadryl he will take. Also she gave me the heads up on the steroids and I got the nurse to get it changed to the better tasting one.

Wednesday 15th, Oral medicine trial successful, got discharged this morning from the hospital. Daddy came and picked us up. continue with benadryl every 4 hrs. With as much as JT is eating, I don't know if I can afford to take him home. The steroids cause a big appetite also they cause agitation (Jonathan isn't the same boy when he is on the steroids).

Thursday 16th, changed benadryl to every 6 hours to dose with steroids.

Friday 17th, Follow up appointment with Dr. Bernstein, the benadryl only give as needed, and the steroids will wean per a written schedule, JT will be off his steroids by the beginning of November.

Happy 2nd Birthday

Okay so the computer decided to download the pictures backwards. We had cake then opened presents.

Jonathan and Benjamin opening presents. Benjamin was so excited he had all his presents open before JT had any out of the bag. Jonathan was so excited about what Benjamin had that he forgot to open his up. They both got the same thing. It is to hard to have them share. I don't think share is in their vocabulary. Thanks to Grandpa and Grandma Hendren for saving the day with the presents they purchased. Jared and I weren't able to get out due to the Fun week prior to their birthday.

Benjamin ate all the icing before starting on the cake. He liked the cake so much that he was picking up the crumbs off the tray before he was done and yes he pretty much licked his plate clean.

Jonathan finishing off his cake. He really liked it, as you can see.

Benjamin at the start of the cake eating contest. Ummmm what to do with this.

Jonathan at the start of his piece of cake. Ummm tastes pretty good.

I can happily say that they ate more cake this year then they did last year and their definitely was less of a mess.

Our Pretty 2nd Birthday Cake. Grandma Colette said no chocolate (due to JT's rash) so we got a "kids cake" from the store. I was going to make a yellow cake with chocolate icing.

The birthday song and blowing out the candles with daddy's help.

My Twins are now Two. We were planning on going to Chuck E. Cheese for their birthday, but with JT being on steroids from his rash we didn't think a germ factory was the place to go. We were planning on celebrating on Friday the 17th, but we were trying to get our life back together after being at the hospital for 3 days and 3 days prior to that visiting the hospital or doctors office. We finally got it together and celebrated on Sunday the 19th. Hope you enjoyed our party. I now owe them Chuck E. Cheese...

what a rash...

We were in the emergency room last night until 1 in the morning due to Jonny's rash. He is going to the pediatrician today due to how severe it is and the information we looked up on the internet.

Extra, Extra, Read all about it...

I posted some draft posts that I didn't have time to complete. Look through my blog you might see some fun pictures of Tetons, Yellowstone, and Thermopolis.

Back to Salt Lake then Price Utah

Daddy and his "Dupers" in an aspen grove near where we decide to turn around because the boys weren't hiking well. Isn't it so green, I love it.

We would really like to move to Salt Lake when Jared is done with school. So we decided to go and see what the houses were going for. After looking at the price of the houses, I'm not sure we will be moving to Salt Lake. We do like how you can be in a large city and 15 minutes later you can be in the mountains. We went on a hike with the boys up Big Cottonwood Canyon, near Brighton Ski resort.

Johnny holding his own leash and walking himself on the Silver Lake boardwalk near Brighton, UT. He refused to be walked. I could just hear in my head him saying "me do it, me do it!" Oh the terrible two's, the independence, the no's, the double trouble terrible two's in two's.

Some ducks in Silver Lake.

Jonathan found a log to sit on to rest his weary legs.

Benjamin sitting on a log playing stick swords.

The reason why we want to move to Salt Lake City. Ahhh the mountains, the greenery, I mean the scenery. All I can say is after living in the desert for 5 years, this is just so green.

After Salt Lake we went to Price Utah to see my Dad. We went to the wave pool and the boys loved the waves. I had my hands full with towels and boys, I forgot to grab the camera, and there were a lot of Kodak moments at the wave pool. oops.

Thermopolis Wyoming ahh the Hot Water Springs

The first day we arrived in Thermopolis, I was able to spend time with my brother Jeremiah and his family. It was great to see all of them. It also was great to have extra hands to help with the twins. Their cousins were so great with Jonathan and Benjamin. Of course that night we had to go swimming. Ahhh, what great things the mineral water does for one's joints! Now that Jared has been so spoiled, he states that he will never swim in cold water again. What trip to Wyoming would be complete with out going to the Pizza Hut in beautiful Cody. Actually Cody has the one of the largest gun museums in the country. We were also able to take a scenic ride through the Big Horn Mountains over Powder River Pass (elevation 9,666 ft).

Jeremiah, Liam, and I in Mom's house in Thermopolis.

Back row: Elise, Ashlynne, Liam, and Brinton.

Front row: JonaThan (JT), Benjamin, and Julianna.

Some of the local wildlife at the aformentioned museum in Cody, WY. Wow look at the horns on that thing!




This is an Alaskan Brown Bear, it's a good thing that this one is stuffed!! He looks like he could play racketball with my head.

Home, home on the range, where the deer and the antelope play. Two deer in town, both posed to have their picture taken. It seems it was easier to take pictures of wild deer than it was to take pictures of my wild twins...

The deer just thought it would pull up some shade in front of this house.

Wow we saw so many of these in Yellowstone, but these ones we saw in Thermopolis. Just up the hill behind the Star Plunge pool were we went swimming.

My Indian Outlaws

I tried to capture the boys dancing, but they have a little camera fright. They do something cute until the camera comes out.

Benji in diaper, JT in shorts.

I was prompted to film the boys dancing due to our Outback experience. We walked outside of Outback and the music hit Benjamin and right in front of the door he started dancing. He was bopping his head, popping his knees, and of course the Benji tongue was out. People had to walk around him to get inside. I made the comment I guess he feels like dancing. Daddy really got to watch the show. Daddy reported to me that even though people were watching Benjamin just kept dancing. People in the restaurant heard about it and had to come to the door to look out. Jonathan decided he was going to walk to the truck and mom had to follow him.

Yellowstone

Most people go to Yellowstone National Park, see Old Faithful go off, and get back in their cars and leave the park. Jared and I have been to Yellowstone 2 summers in a row, camped on the ground 5 nights each time, and still haven't seen much of Yellowstone. This park is so big you could spend a lifetime photographing it. Oh and just a warning plan on getting wet, if it isn't rain then it's the geysers. A couple days into our camping adventure at Bridge Bay campground it started to rain cats and dogs. Last year we left yellowstone because all our gear was wet due to a leaky quick tent. Well a river was running right under our tent and we had to do some quick manouvering in the rain. We pulled up the stakes and moved the tent out of the river. I can say our REI tent didn't leak, this tent saved our trip this year. The tent did happen to leak water onto my sleeping bag because the back fly was open for part of the rain storm, oops(that was my fault.) Now that our tent doesn't leak we can camp in the rain.

White Dome Geyser.

Yellowstone Lake at sunset.

A fawn that came through the campsite with her mom.

Daddy and the boys throwing rocks into Yellowstone Lake. We hiked from our campground down to the lake for a night time activity. I lost my truck keys on this hike.

The boys looking into Morning Glory Pool.

Jonathan watching Riverside Geyser go off, Benjamin mad because he can't have Daddy's soda.

I took this picture while waiting for daddy to take some pictures. There are some bison on the other side of the river.

Grand Geyser. If you see this geyser go off you won't wait to see Old Faithful go off. This trip we didn't see Old Faithful Geyser go off.

Chain Lakes, in Upper Geyser Basin.

Bison, bison, and more bison.

Emerald Pool.





Gibbons Falls

That is the sound of water in the background. Jared is telling me that doing a video "eats the memory card huh?"