Birthdays and Anniversarys

So today is my 13 year anniversary of being diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes.  Diabetes is not easy to live with, especially while pregnant.  However, time and my faith have helped me to see the many blessings in my life and good that has come from this disease.  I live in a time full of technology which means that companies are always coming out with better tech to manage/treat diabetes.  Within 10 months of my diagnosis I was able to get an insulin pump which is so much better to manage diabetes then insulin shots.  When I was pregnant with Tacy I was able to get a continuous glucose monitor to help watch the trends of my blood sugar that can go up and down so much with pregnancy hormones.  Now insurance will cover a CGM even when you aren't pregnant!  Other than the devices, I have had many people who have helped me a long the way.

When I was first diagnosed, it was a Friday, I was 92 pounds on a good day (I was ridiculously skinny at 16), and constantly eating and drinking.  My mom and I knew something was wrong so we went to the doctors and after every imaginable test, they tested my blood sugar which was 592 (normal is more 80-120).  So we were sent to the hospital and I was put on an insulin drip and told I couldn't eat until my blood sugar came down.  That made for a long night, missing a sleep over and the PSATs in the morning.  Saturday morning my blood sugar was 190 so I was allowed to eat breakfast and I remember I shocked my father when he came to visit me and saw me eating eggs.  Hey, I was on a restricted carb diet so I ordered every protein I could that morning because I was starving.  It was at this time that the endocrinologist came to talk with me.  This sweet little Indian man who I remember calling him Dr. Keposh (he had a long name that was hard to pronounce), was very open with me and told me that I would have this disease for life, no surgery or procedure would take it away.  When telling me all the hard facts and what to expect about treatment he asked if I had questions.  My one question: Can I still eat food?  I love chocolate, fruit, bread...  I'm so glad he was my endocrinologist because he laughed and told me that I could eat whatever I wanted it would just cost more money for me because I would have to take insulin.  Even today not all doctors share this same belief, some want all diabetics on a strict diet.  But because of what Dr. Keposh told me, I have always eaten what I want, granted I have been a lot more picky about what carbs are insulin worthy.

My next blessing was my certified diabetic educator, Rosanne.  I was a moody 16 year-old who just had their life flipped upside down with a disease and she would listen to me, give me advice, and share her own insights from living with diabetes.  She was amazing because unlike the dietician and social worker she listened to me and helped me problem solve my complaints instead of just telling me that I was fine or normal.  

Now before I was diabetic I really had wanted to become a teacher, specifically an algebra teacher.  After my diagnosis I met so many nurses, some good some bad, that I decided I wanted to be like Rosanne and help other diabetics.  Because of my disease, I am now a registered nurse and work each week at helping people through their illnesses and diseases.  

Last but not least by any means, being diagnosed with diabetes helped me to grow nearer to Jesus Christ, our Savior and Redeemer.  I had always believed in Jesus and known that he had atoned for our sins, but until my diagnosis I had never understood that Jesus had suffered for every pain, trial, suffering, temptation, and sin.  He did all this so that He could "succor" us, be that one person to perfectly understand everything we have gone through and will go through in our lives.  While there are many people in the world with Type 1 diabetes, everyone experiences things differently.  As a 16-year-old it was so important to gain such a deeper understanding of the Atonement, to know that my Savior understood how hard diabetes is, how depressing, frustrating, scary, etc that it can be.  I found great solace through reading scriptures about the Atonement, hymns that discuss the great blessing of the Atonement, and of course prayer.  Without my faith I know I would have not been able to make it through this incredibly hard and emotional time.  Goodness, even now that I'm older and have years of experience I still have days I want to through up my hands and give up.  I am so grateful for my Savior, for His Infinite Atonement, and for my ever growing faith in Him.  I know that I have and we all have a loving Heavenly Father who wants to help us, which is why he offered His Son, Jesus Christ.  

When my first year anniversary was coming up, my Diabetic Educator and mother had the idea of making the anniversary a party, a fun celebration, like a diabetic birthday.  That first year I did have a Halloween party with my friends where we threw needles at pumpkins, laughed and ate yummy food.  The next year in college my friends all went to IHOP and we ate yummy breakfast food, so I guess that would be more a celebration of insulin which allows me to eat what I want and feel more like a regular person.  I can't say that I have kept up the party each year, life gets busy, but I always remember this day.  With something this life-altering you can never forget, just like I will never forget where I was when I heard that a plane had flown into the first tower on 9/11.  

I have no big plans for today either, but I do enjoy reflecting on what has happened since my diagnosis and focusing on the good that has come from it.  Now illness or disease is easy or something people would ever wish to have, but I do believe we can all look for the positive in every situation.  And most importantly, understand that there is someone who understands PERFECTLY what you are going through; Jesus Christ.  

Preschool!

So my big girl had her first day of preschool today.  Tacy tends to be shy around big groups of kids, so I was a little nervous about how she would handle a class of 16 kids.  Luckily, her school did a teacher meet and greet last Friday and they staggered the times so not all the kids were there at the same time.  This gave Tacy time to be able to meet her teachers and play with a few of the kids.  Today, she woke up early because she was so excited.  She picked out a new dress and new leggings and Daddy managed to convince her to wear her tennis shoes (they play outside everyday and the school encourages shoes so bark does not get into sandals and hurt their feet).  Tacy even let me do her hair today!  Total miracle of mornings. 

Well, Tacy was ready to run right into school.  The first week they have the parents walk their kids to their classroom to help them adjust to leaving mom/dad.  Tacy would have been fine without me.  She knew how to get to her classroom, I showed her wear to put her stuff and she went straight to the toy kitchen, but since no one was playing there, she joined a big group of kids playing with cars and started to play with them.  I got a very distracted goodbye hug and left.  

No, I didn't cry and neither did Tacy.  With my pregnancy hormones I was not sure how I would react, but I'm not too surprised it was not hard for me.  Tacy and I are used to being separated.  It was weird dropping her off and me going home by myself, but it was good so I could work on homework, decorate for fall, and stress about how to arrange furniture for when Little Man arrives.  

Tacy had a great first day.  Her teacher, Mrs. Angevine told me that Tacy already made one good friend and that she really has this school thing down and thinks this year will be great for Tacy.  Tacy is not always good at reporting her daily activities, so I was glad Mrs. Angevine told me some (and that I have a calendar telling me what the topic for the day was).  Tacy did say that she had fun, made sand cupcakes with her friend Hannah, and they read stories in class.  She was so tuckered out when I picked her up she asked if she could sleep in the car during our 5 minute drive home.  I just know it was a good day for us.  We ended it with making brownies and pizza, riding her bike, and taking a bath.  

Tacy can't wait to go back tomorrow.  I just know that I love this girl SO much!  I think preschool will be perfect for both of us so she can play, I can have me time, and then we can play when she gets home (that is until brother arrives).

Just Keep Swimming and C's get Degrees

So I just finished 2 more classes for my BSN.  Goodbye Spanish!!!  Monday my last 2 classes start, so the end is in sight of school.  I won't lie, after reading the syllabuses for the classes I feel overwhelmed.  I will be taking 8 credits, instead of 6, in a 7-10 week period (the 3 credit class is 7 weeks long and the 5 credit class is 10 weeks long).  My advisor said these two classes should be done separately, but I just want to finish, so I'm doing more than full time school.  YAY!!!  So as long as I can pass these two intense classes in the next 10 weeks, school will be done and I will have my BSN.  That is why I keep trying to remind myself that C's get degrees.

While I'm trying to make it through school for the next 10 weeks, I will still be working full time, and I'm in my last trimester of pregnancy with this little man.  When my classes end, I will be 37 weeks pregnant, so he cannot come before school is over.  It all seems like a ginormous mountain to climb.  After having just been to Disney I keep trying to remind myself to Just Keep Swimming and to take everything one day at a time.  I know it can be done, afterall I did do nursing school with a newborn.  I'm just hoping and praying that I can make it through October with somewhat of my sanity.  The good news is that my classes are now all in English and mostly it will be writing a lot of papers/projects, well and some book tests (seriously lame).  I have not read a normal book since April, so goodness I'm looking forward to school ending so I can have some me time.

As for pregnancy, Brad is guessing Little Man is going to be here by Halloween.  At my last visit he was measuring big, and being diabetic I'm at risk for having a big baby, so we will see.  In the mean time, I will keep eating chocolate (because this pregnancy I still love chocolate), ice cream, and honey bbq wings at Buffalo Wild Wings.

Turning 4 Like a Princess

Ever since we visited Disney World March 2015, we have wanted to go back, so since Brad got a break from school right during Tacy's birthday he decided we should do a family trip to Orlando for her birthday/family vacation.  Brad's mom flew in and met us in Orlando to celebrate Tacy's birthday.  We rented a condo in Kissimee which was perfect for our needs and spent Monday-Wednesday at Disney.  Being 6 months pregnant I was a little apprehensive how this Disney trip would go as I could not do the big rides, it was super hot and humid, and the whole Zika virus.  But we planned, researched, and went prepared.  

Armed with camelbacks, various bug repellants, and lathered in sunscreen, we went to Magic Kingdom early Monday morning.  Brad had the Disney app on his phone and let me tell you, that is the way to do Disney.  The app tells you the wait times for each ride, you can pick your fast passes on the app, and of course have a map of the park.  Between the app and our fast passes, we never waited longer than 15 minutes for a ride.  Obviously the best time to ride everything was the first few hours in the morning, by 10ish the park would be packed.  I'm not a big fan of crowds, but we managed.  Tacy got a birthday button on Monday since it was her birthday and by 10 we had met 6 princesses and ridden 3-4 rides already.  

We ate lunch in the park that day since it was Tacy's birthday, we watched the Festival of Fantasy and so many people said Happy birthday to Tacy during the parade.  We were also able to walk right in to the Tiki Room and the Country Bear Jamboree.  Tacy loved them both, it's been years since I last saw the jamboree.  We did leave in the evening to go eat dinner at BJ's Brewery and Restaurant and enjoyed yummy pizza and pzookies.  Then we headed back for more rides.  After all day at the park, I was exhausted so we left before the fireworks.  It did rain 2-3 times during the day, which was a nice relief from the humidity.

Tuesday we woke up early again to go to Animal Kingdom.  Now let me just say, that not all Disney parks are created equal.  Animal Kingdom was very humid, after all they are trying to make it like Asia and Africa where all these animals live.  But I woke up that morning with a splitting headache and the humidity was only making it worse.  I actually drank a diet coke to try to help it.  Despite the pain, we did have fun.  We started with the Safari ride and had fun seeing all the animals and learning interesting facts about them.  Then we walked along the gorilla falls trail, where there were birds and gorillas.  After that we watched a bird show that was really fun.  Then Tacy and I went and watched Finding Nemo the Muscial while Brad and his mom went to ride Escape Everest.  It was lunch time so we all scarfed down our sandwiches before going to our various places.  For Tacy and I, this was fine.  We loved the musical, plus it was nice and air-conditioned which really helped me headache.  But Brad and his mom realized eating before Everest was a bad idea because half the ride goes backwards, not easy on the stomach.  Meeting up with them after the show was when I discovered that the bathrooms at Animal Kingdom are really dismal compared to Magic Kingdom (not enough stalls or room).  The next fast pass was for the water ride, which sounded really good considering how ridiculously hot and humid it was.  Every ride at Animal Kingdom is not recommended for pregnant women, while I had read the Safari Jeep ride was fine, I never saw anything about the water ride.  So I decided to play it safe and not go.  We searched for an air conditioned place for me to wait (there are very few places with AC in Animal Kingdom) and Anne found a restaurant that served sherbet.  So I got a table and ate some yummy mango, lemon and raspberry sherbet while everyone else got soaked.  Of course, once the ride was over it had started raining.  It was at this point that Tacy picked out a kitty cat animal for her birthday present and we decided to go back to the Condo for naps.  Brad got us fast passes for Lion King at 10:30 that night...we never ended up going back.  We were all pretty tired and decided staying up really late before another full day at Magic Kingdom was not best.  

Wednesday we woke up early again, I still had a splitting headache, so Brad got me tylenol on the way to Magic Kingdom.  After having spent one day at Magic Kingdom already, we were able to do our favorite things.  We walked onto Pirates of the Carribean and had a boat to ourselves then everyone else went and rode Splash Mountain twice because the line was short.  Tacy says her favorite ride is Splash Mountain and her second favorite is Buzz Lightyear's Space Rangers (something like that).  We also rode Peter Pan again, Ariel and It's a Small World (which I'm pretty sure that one cause my headache initially).  Now Wednesday was another hot, humid day. So we went back to the condo at lunch for naps, ate a quick dinner, then went back to the park for more rides and to watch the Electrical Parade and Fireworks.  We had been hoping all day it would rain and it started to drizzle at the end of the Electrical Parade.  As soon as the parade finished, it POURED.  We laughed and ran for cover.  I had the wettest belly but we were all pretty wet, except for Tacy because she was in her umbrella stroller.  The rain stopped in time for the fireworks and we enjoyed that show.  It was a great end to a fun time in Disney.

Thursday we swam in the pool at the condo, played mini golf, ate ice cream, walked around Disney Springs, and then had dinner at Chuy's Mexican Restaurant, which was really delicious.  It was nice relaxing day to end our trip.

Overall, we had a great time, Tacy was sad to leave and sad to say bye to Mema.  My headache finally went away when we got home.  Of course, after being gone all week, we had Tacy's birthday party with friends on Saturday morning at a park.  Nice and low key for me.  The kids all ran around and played, Brad made a great Rapunzel cake for Tacy which was a big hit, and then we returned to normal life with work and school.

Updates on our Crazy Lives

So I've disappeared from blogging for a while.  All I can say is that we have been busy.  Here is what has happened:

The last week of March I transferred from working as an office nurse at a Neurosurgery Clinic to working at Rex Hospital on the Pulmonary and Nephrology, Intermediate Care, Floor.  This was a big decision, but something that I felt was a great opportunity.  The neurosurgeon I was working with was leaving and I was bored at the office and felt like that office job was death to any advancement in my nursing career. I started interviewing at a couple places within the company, but when I received the job offer for this floor and the manager told me that while the floor is known as being the hardest, I would learn a lot, I took the opportunity.  I love being back doing direct patient care, assessing patients, placing IVs (crazy, because in my 3 years a nurse this is the first job where I have had to place IVs so it is exciting when it all goes smooth for me), and reading EKGs.  I am learning a lot, working nights has been an adjustment but once again we are being blessed with good friends who watch Tacy the day after I work so I can sleep while she gets to play.

Brad has continued to work through his crazy rotations for PA school.  He is currently in the middle of his 9th rotation (just 3 left!) and is working at the ED for one of the big companies here.  We knew this would be his craziest schedule, but seriously, it is crazier than we had imagined.  He works between 5 different hospitals and works a variety of shifts (11-9, 1-11, 5-2, 4-1, 9-7, 8-5).  Pretty much, we do not see each other much these days.  So far orthopedics has been Brad's favorite, which he figured would be.  He has had a ortho MD get his information and tell him to apply for a job opening at his clinic, so that is a little exciting.

I am still trucking along with my busy BSN classes and despite my counselors recommendations I am still taking 2 classes every 7.5 weeks, with only 4 day breaks between each term.  I'm currently taking gerontology and intermediate spanish, so any day I'm home, I'm doing homework/papers, tests, etc.  It makes life crazy now, but if I can keep it up, I only have 2 more classes left and will finish October 25th.

Tacy is a busy bee who keeps growing up on me.  She has quite the funny personality and is full of sass and drama, which can be trying for Brad and I.  She has become very picky with food lately and will either cry because she doesn't like what was made or tell us "Thanks for offering Dad, but I don't want it." Or she told me "thanks for making dinner Mom, but I don't want to eat it." Her manners are cute, but we keep trying to remind her of green eggs and ham and how she should try things before knocking them down (which I realize is a lot coming from me because I can be picky and not eat things simply because they sound/look gross).  Tacy has been eating carrots because Brad tells her that if she won't eat what was made for dinner, her only other option is carrots.  So she eats carrots some nights, other nights she goes up to bed after 1 bite and manages to survive until morning before eating again.  So fun.  Tacy does always tell Brad and I that she misses us when we are at work/school, so I'm glad she doesn't forget us.  She has been loving swimming and painting lately and will start swim lessons soon which I'm hopeful she will be receptive too since she doesn't like to listen to Brad and I's instructions.  I will say that Tacy is getting better at floating on her stomach or back (with her puddle jumper) but it makes me happy when she shows me that she is floating.

I am pregnant and we found out that we are having a boy.  We are excited and yes we had planned on this baby.  Baby boy is due November 15th, and with me being diabetic means that if he doesn't come by November 8th (39 weeks), I will be induced.  Brad has forbidden him to be born 11/2 or 11/8 because he is anti-birthday sharing.  I'm not making any guarantees, which might mean that I will have to drive myself to the hospital if he stays stubborn.  Everything is going relatively well, just the normal blood sugar roller coaster craziness because of hormones.  Little man loves to move around, especially late at night.  Tacy wanted a sister but is excited for baby brother.  The other day she told me, "Mom, remember when we went to the doctors and I wanted a sister but we found out baby is a brother?"  She seriously cracks me up.  She also loves to tell me all the things she is going to do for him, like feed him milk, help him walk, let him sleep in her room, etc.  She also lets me know all the toys she is going to keep from him (like legos).  Tacy is very obsessed with babies, hence why she knows they only eat milk and can't play with small things like legos.  Brad also told her that she would not want to share her room with baby brother when he is really little because he has to wake up so much to eat due to his small stomach.  Tacy found this very fascinating and loved to talk about our different stomach sizes.  She also loves to update me each day on how big I/baby brother is getting.  Haha she cracks me up.  But I love when she prays for baby brother.

Tacy loves to talk about future events and try to figure out timing of everything.  Now that it's July, Tacy's birthday is in less than a month, in September she starts Preschool and soccer, in October I should be finishing my BSN, in November is Brad's birthday and Little Man should be arriving, and in December Brad graduates.  So yes, we are busy!  Plus we have to start figuring out where we are going to move after PA school.  PA licenses are a little complicated in that they take 6 months to obtain for a specific state, so Brad has to apply in August for state licensure, a point at which he will most likely not yet have a job offer.  We have been saying that we will move where he gets a job, but at this rate all of his orthopedic connections are here in NC.  So lots of fun for us to try and figure out in a short term.

Sleeping In

My Dad always told me that I was Sleeping Beauty because I was so beautiful when I was asleep, and then...I would wake up and be grumpy.  Yea, that's my Dad's sense of humor.  But I know it is somewhat based on truth because I am not a morning person and love to stay in bed.  

The older I get, the less I am able to sleep in because of the responsibilities that come with being an adult: work, kids, obligations,etc.  I remember the day when I could sleep in until 10 on Saturday.  Brad would tease me (he never slept in), but seriously, when you wake up early every other day, you have to have ONE day to sleep in.

As you can imagine, Tacy really ended sleeping in period.  Babies are great, but they are horrible sleepers.  As Tacy has gotten older, she started to sleep more, but she still needed help in the morning to change a diaper, go potty, eat food, play, etc.  When Brad took down Tacy's crib and she started sleeping in a toddler bed, I was not very happy because she would wake up so early because she could get out of bed now and not have to be rescued.  Then there was potty training which brought the joys of bed-wetting.  We finally hit a great spot where Tacy slept 12 hours (7-7) with Tacy waking up and coming into our room to tell me that the sun was up so it was time to get up, or that she was hungry, needed to go potty and so on.  She was always very sweet (Tacy is a morning person) and I could even tell her to give me a few more minutes and she would leave me alone and come back in 10 minutes.  Not too bad, she was basically an alarm with a snooze.  

Brad's rotations have thrown a kink into Tacy's sleep however.  Because he has had to wake up early to make it to some rotations, Tacy hears him and wakes up (5:30 on she is a light sleeper, this is why I shower at night a lot because she sleeps through it then).  Her waking up early, meant that I would then get woken up early.  Brad tries to get her to go back to sleep by putting her back in bed and turning off the light, which causes her to cry and usually 15 minutes later, after Brad has left the house, Tacy is up again.  Oh well.

But within the past few weeks, Tacy no longer wakes me up as soon as she is up.  She will go potty on her own (I try not to think about whether she washes her hands or not), play quietly in her room, and now she even will go downstairs and get herself food.  This is wonderful!!!!  I can always sleep until my actual alarm, or sleep in until 8 on Saturdays.  Seriously, she helps to make me a happy momma.  Granted, Tacy fending for herself has caused some problems.  

While I'm sleeping, Tacy has gotten into Christmas candy and all of the candy cane kisses out of everyone's stockings (Brad found all the wrappers and asked her about it, but she denied it).  Tacy has started to use her stool around the kitchen to get anything she can that is up high.  For a while, just the fruit fell victim to the stool, and I can't really complain that my child would wake up and eat fruit (although finding bananas or apples in the trash that only had one bite eaten from them is not fun and we had a talk about this).  However, one Saturday Tacy somehow used her stool to help her be tall enough to get ice cream and her shake out of the freezer.  She then scooped ice cream into a bowl with the ice cream scoop, but the ice cream and still very frozen shake into the fridge, and took her bowl of ice cream up to her room to eat.  I was really impressed with her formal ice cream eating and that she used the ice cream scoop (I forget we have one and usually just use a spoon).  The now melted ice cream in the fridge was just funny and we had a talk about how ice cream was not something she could eat without Mommy and Daddy saying it was ok.  

Other than food, her toys that have been placed in hard to reach areas of the cupboard, are now things she can get to.  The same saturday as the ice cream, I woke up to Tacy asking me if she could blow bubbles while holding an open bubble jar in her hand.  She has also gotten out her kinetic sand toy that essentially is playdough that can float on water, that has molds and a little beach that you can fill with water.  When I woke up I found all the colors of kinetic sand were now mixed together and water was on the table.  So we had a talk about what toys she can only play with when Mom and Dad are around to supervise, and luckily bubbles and playdough have not been a problem since.

I really can't complain about the extra sleep I get now.  Granted, I would prefer if Tacy slept past 6 so that she wasn't so grumpy by 5.  Oh well, you win some you lose some.

It's hard to complain when I wake up to a happy toddler who has dressed herself, which simplifies my morning.  

Now I just need to hide her Elsa dress so that we can stop fighting about how she needs to wear clothes under the dress because it is too cold to just wear the dress outside.  

Hello Utah!

We were able to fly out to visit Brad's family in the early part of December.  While the flying was a bit of a pain, we are really glad we went and could see so much of our family and catch up with some friends.  Here is a brief account of our trip.

running to Mema at the airport

Thursday: We flew in and drove down to Utah County.  We went to my favorite Mexican resturaunt, Joe Bandidos in Springville, UT.  Seriously, ALL of their food is delicious and they have the BEST chips and salsa!  After all the bland mexican in NC, it was nice to have some great flavor.  We then drove around the Payson, UT temple which was beautiful.  Then we met up with Brad's sisters and our nephews and niece and went to some of BYU's free museums - The Bean Museum and the Palentology Museum.  Our nephew Grant is only 5 months older than Tacy, and previous to moving, they were always together and best friends.  It was so fun to see them together again because they picked up like we had never left.

Friday: Brad went to lunch with some of his old co-workers while Tacy and I went to lunch with my friends, Andy and Brittany, and there 3 kids.  It was so fun to catch up and let the kids run around.  We also visited with (Sister) McKenzie Loftis, one of the missionaries we had over all the time in NC who happens to be from Bountiful, UT.  Friday night we went with Brad's parents to their ward Christmas party and Tacy was up way to late playing/watching shows with Grant for their "slumber" party.

Dayton, Tacy, and Bentley at Chick-fil-A

Saturday: Tacy was a grump due to lack of sleep.  We had family pictures at the state capitol.  Tacy was in time out almost the whole time because she would not listen, which put Brad in a poor mood.  As I am the only one (of the 3 of us) who like taking family pictures, I guess it was fitting I was the only happy one.  I really did think to just tell the photographer and Brad's mom, to just take pictures of me for our family.  Amazingly we did actually get some good pictures with everyone smiling (or not looking too grumpy).  I learned that goldfish are the key, because fruit snacks were not working for Tacy.  After pictures we went to lunch at Chuck-a-rama for Grandpa Taylor.  It was so great to see Brad's grandparents, Aunt Janet and Uncle Lynn, and Aunt Lori.  Tacy even warmed up to everyone and hugged Grandma Taylor.  Food helped her to become happy again.

Sunday: We went to church with Brad's parents. Tacy and I took a nap.  We had a family dinner with all of Brad's siblings, spouses, and kids.  After dinner the grandkids all opened a present from Grandma - jammies!  We also decorated sugar cookies (under Melissa's direction and tutelage because she makes and decorates cookies professionally).  Then we all played games.

Monday - It had DUMPED snow over night (a good 12 inches) and was still snowing Monday morning.  Tacy was estatic because she had been asking since flying into Utah to drive up to the mountains to get snow.  We went to breakfast at Grandma Annie's for delicious scones and sausage.  We met up with our Canadian friends, Kody and Connie and their brood of kids, for lunch.  We bought Tacy snow boots and she and Brad played outside in the backyard making a snowman and snow angels.  That night we then went to Temple Square in Downtown SLC with Brad's parents.  I love seeing the lights and because it was snowing, it was not crowded at all!  Tacy loved it and we bundled up good.  We ate dinner at Kneaders in City Center before driving back home.

"skating" while Daddy shoveled the driveway

Tuesday - We went to boondocks with Brad's mom, Jody, Grant and McKay.  Tacy also went and played at Grants with Grandma.  We finished off the night with In-n-out.

We had a busy trip loaded with lots of food and activities.  We had a great time and enjoyed Christmas weather before coming home to the 70s.

 

goofy and grumpy

This picture makes me laugh!