Good Friends

You know those friend who you don't see for years and when you get together it is like you got together yesterday.  That would describe the Sprinkles.  Brandon and Jon were in graduate school together in Nashville and we became good friends.  We went on several trip together (Mammoth Caves, the Biltmore, Florida two different years).  They were the Aunt and Uncle to Karissa since hers were so far away and they were dear friends to us.  We often joked that Brandon and Jon were twins separated at birth since their interests were so similar. They live in Arizona and called us just before we left for Cedar City/Vegas to see if we would be around the next weekend for a visit.  Which of course we made sure we would be.  We drove in from Vegas about 15 minutes before they arrived.  We had a wonderful weekend with them and their two boys.  On Saturday we went to the Albuquerque BioPark.  First we went to the Aquarium.

Here is Spencer admiring the fish in the BIG tank.

This is their oldest doing the same

From the Aquarium we went to the Botanical Gardens
 

 Inside the Butterfly exibit

The entrance to my favorite garden, the Japanese Garden

On Sunday we took it easy and then they left on Monday, despite all attempts to convince them to stay.
All the kids had fun together, Spence and Alexis enjoyed the baby (along with Karissa, of course).

Sucking away!

Playing with our favorite toy

All the kids together.

We can't wait until next time, which, hopefully, will be less than 2 years away. 

Kid Pics

While at the Botanical Gardens Brandon took these photos in the Japanese Garden and outside the Botanical Gardens.

Check please?! I'm done with food issues.

A few weeks ago we had an appointment for Spencer to see an allergist.  Based on some reactions we knew he was allergic to a few foods and I just wanted to be sure there weren't others and to maybe get some medicine if necessary.  Boy did we end up with medicine.

He ended up having a slight allergy to wheat which the doctor said not to worry too much about.  He had a worse allergy to eggs, but since his only reaction was to straight eggs and not to eggs in baked goods, he said to just not give his straight eggs.  Goodbye quiche for dinner and scrambled eggs for everyone for breakfast, which means we have lost our one choice for everyone to eat the same thing for breakfast (except for cold cerea) so now we continue with everyone choosing their own breakfast.  Can I say CHAOS!!! 

This was all well and good and not too surprising, what was surprising was the results for peanuts.  Let's just say we now have an EpiPen.  All peanuts have been banned from our house (except for the ones I still have that we are trying to get through and wash our hands thoroughly and not touch anything).  We have to carry the EpiPen with us at all times.  The doctor said he may not need it if he has a reaction, but to be on the safe side we need it.    Oh, and here's something we didn't know, if he does need the EpiPen, we use it, call 911, wait for the ambulance, then he, most likely, gets to stay overnight at the hospital.


I haven't posted this sooner because I am still trying to get my head around it.  While I realize it could be worse and I am so grateful there is medicine that can save his life, I am also selfish and lazy and don't want to add something to the food ban list and have to ask restaurants if they use Peanut oil along with what has gluten.  Good bye 5 Guys burgers& fries that are gluten free, but the fries are fried in peanut oil.  Good-bye my favorite trail mix, Good Bye reeses peanut butter cups and shakes unless he isn't with us. 

Okay I am over it -- for now, later, who's to say.

Las Vegas

As I said, after the Reunion we went to Las Vegas for the week.  We rented a house with our friends, the Arenos, since the dad at their house also attended the conference.  C and I and the kids had fun in the house watching movies and catching up on Dr. Who (which if you haven't seen I highly recommend) and playing pool.  The also enjoyed playing Wii

and going to a few parks (where it was sweltering hot) with spraying water.  But the best part of the house was the pool in the back yard.  The kids practically lived there.

Alexis with her "floatie"

Andrew and "Scooter" racing to get a water gun

Karissa jumping out of the water

This is how Alexis enjoyed the pool, buy going around and around on the side.

Andrew getting thrown by a cousin of our friends

While not the most relaxing of vacations (C & I decided to term it a "trip" not a "vacation") it was a lot of fun, except for the dishwasher that didn't really work.

Matheson Reunion

My Grandma Matheson passed away last February after a long battle with cancer.  Grandma was an amazing seamstress and quilter and had collected an enormous collection of fabric.  About a month ago it was announced that a reunion was going to be held and as part of the reunion the fabric would be divided to those who wanted it.  Grandma had a plethora of tricot (nightgown fabric) that I really wanted for nightgowns for my girls, and I wanted to see my family, and we were going to Las Vegas for the next week so the stars aligned and we were able to go.  Saturday morning (after a LONG drive Friday -- did you know it takes about as long to drive from Albuquerque to Cedar City, UT as it takes to drive from Albuquerque to Salt Lake thanks to the national parks, giant lakes, and indian reservations?) we arrived at Grandpa's house to this:

And this:

There was so much that several people mistook it for a yard sale so some of our cousins made a sign:

It was kind of humorous watching people stop and get out of the cars, read the sign and get back in.

Let's just say I got a lot of fabric and now am working on plans to use it.  We all joked that if we weren't careful, when we died our children and grandchildren would be sorting through the same fabric.  Some of the pieces I got were from things my grandmother made me like the back to my bear blanket, others were just great prints and skirt fabric and all sorts of other stuff.  I am kind of excited to start creating -- as soon as my sewing room is cleared out enough to actually sew.

Later in the day the kids participated in the Enoch city Pioneer Day parade.  The float represented a story told us by my Aunt about my great-great grandpa Matheson.  When Panguitch, UT was first settled their crops didn't do well and in the middle of winter they were running out of food.  It was decided to send some men through the pass to Parowan, UT to get supplies.  On the way the snow was so deep they couldn't go through the pass.  They got out a quilt to kneel on to pray asking for help.  When they were done they noticed that if they stood on the quilts they could walk on top of the snow.  So they gathered the quilts from the wagon and placed them ahead of them and walked on the quilts all the way to Parowan.

The kids loved being on the float with my Grandpa.

Karissa with my cousin Scott's daughter.

Alexis in front of one of the quilts on the float.

Andrew sat in the back and helped throw candy.

We had fun watching the parade.  Spencer enjoyed playing with a Frisbee thrown at us

My brother-in-law and my niece had fun getting squirted by one of the floats squirting water guns.  Let's just say it felt really good.

It was a fun day to be with family.  Towards the end of the day we packed up and headed to Las Vegas since Brandon had a conference to attend there.