About two days before I left for Florida Talli got a severe diaper rash that turned into an infection. It was horrible, she cried every time she went potty because she knew I was going to change her diaper and it hurt so badly. I felt like it needed to let it air out and not have a diaper on so it could begin to heal. But the only problem is I didn't want her having any accidents in the house. So I sat her on the toilet with the Ipad to watch Dora. I figured if her first potty with out a diaper on was in the potty maybe she would catch on quicker. Well sure enough she sat there long enough to go pee and I made a huge deal over it. After that she would pee on the potty every time she took a bath and she even got out of the bath to pee, which is huge. However I was leaving for Florida in two days and didn't think my Dad would appreciate potty training Talli for me. So I didn't even start. Plus I had sworn I would not potty training her until she was three because I was still so scarred from our potty training experience with Maylee. When I got back from Florida she was still going on the potty before she hopped in the tub but we were leaving for AZ for Thanksgiving in four days so again it wasn't a good time to start potty training. I told myself when I got back from AZ I would start. Monday when I got back I took her to Kmart and let her pick out some Dora panties. I started after nap time and she did great, no accidents. But I did tell David that my heart wasn't in this potty training business so I would give it one week and then back in diapers she would go. Tuesday she did awesome, no accidents. I was shocked, she has been my best potty trained child. Although Wednesday I realized she hadn't pooped in 4 days and that her tummy was really hurting. She had a few moments where she would let out a high pitch scream and start crying, I could tell she needed to poo but she would not allow herself too. That afternoon we headed over to Celynda's house to hang out and while she was there she had a few more incidents like that I rushed to the potty but she would not go. Later our friend Briauna came over and I was asking her if she ever had to deal with this type of situation. She said she had and she had to use suppositories and that she still had some if I wanted to try. At this point I felt desperate to get Talli out of pain. So Briauna ran home and grabbed some. Some things I never imaged I would do as a parent includes putting a suppository up my kids bum and holding my finger there as a cork so she couldn't get it out before it dissolved. Yep- that's what I did. I let it work for a few minutes then took her to the potty to try. The poor baby girl, she sat there for 7 minutes screaming and crying, she was so constipated it took her forever to push it out. But finally the relief came and you could tell how much better she felt just by the way she was walking. I'm so glad it worked and now she is no longer afraid to go poo. So I won't be giving up in a week. The girl in officially potty trained. As of now we have only had one tiny little accident. She's a pro, our best one yet. I needed that after our Maylee experience.

Third Times the Charm

David was gone the entire month of September living in Ohio and he was leaving again the end of October for Florida for the entire month of November. So I had four full weeks with him home and I decided that I was going to take those four weeks and train for the Snow Canyon Half Marathon. I've run it twice and I was devastated about not running it the last time before we move. So even though I only had four weeks I trained my tush off. The four saturdays David was home I ran, 7, 8, 9 and then 10 miles. It was hard. The few months prior to Oct the most I had run was two miles a few days a month. But I trained, it was hard, but I told myself I wasn't going to worry about my time I was just going to finish and be proud of that. Since David was already in Florida, Mom and Fawn came up to help out with the kids and cheer me on during the race. Without fail, like every year before Talli slept terrible the night before and I got practically no sleep. But it really must be for the best some how. The race started, and I felt like crap. Within the first mile, I was pretty sure there was no way I was going to be able to run this race. I never felt like I fell into my groove, it felt hard the entire time. But some how I was still able to push myself harder than I ever had before. This was also the first race I've ever had my garmin on. When I hit mile 7 I was at 55 minutes, I have never run 7 miles that fast before so I knew that I was going to be able to come in close to my other times maybe even better. At mile 9 is when we come out of the canyon and start seeing spectators. Mom, Fawn and the kids were there cheering me on, which is such a huge lift that I always need right at the time. When I hit mile 11 I was at  and hour and 30 miles. I knew if I just kept under ten minute miles for the last two miles  I would be able to not only beat my best time but to be able to come in under 1:50:00. Which really excited me. I know 10 minute miles sounds so slow but up til this point I was running 7 minute miles and I was exhausted and the last two miles is when we start hitting a few rollers. But I pushed on and came in at 1:48:55, I was EXCITED. So proud of myself. I definitely ended on a great note.

So as much sewing as I do, I have yet to make my kids Halloween costumes. This year I decided I was going to make them. Dutch wanted to be a ninja and had a specific one in mind and I figured it'd be a whole lot easier on me to buy it then make it, so he picked his out at the store. Maylee wanted to be a princess again this year. At first she wanted to be Ariel, I talked her out of the that because she had been that last year. But she still wanted to be a Disney princess. I told her I would make her a gorgeous princess dress and she could just be 'Princess Maylee'. I am already tired of my girls wanting to be Disney princess for every Halloween  they are so boring to me. I had the idea of what I wanted the princess dress to look like and I headed off to Joann's to buy the material. Lucky for me I was able to get the dress to turn out exactly if not better then I had pictured it my head. And it really didn't take very long to make it at all. It just came together so easy. Maylee loved it, which I was I grateful for since she had wanted to be some thing else.

The pile of fabric before I got started.

Halloween was fun this year. Our ward had the trunk or treat on Halloween night, so we headed to that and hit up all the cars and then we headed back to our neighborhood since the kids really wanted to knock on some doors. I was going to make Talli a Dora costume however she refused to wear the wig so I decided to just have her wear Maylee's dress up Barbie dress instead of fighting the Dora costume. The kids had so much candy by the end of the night. I let them stay up an hour late and eat as much candy as they wanted to since I knew it'd be gone the next day. They gorged on candy and then the next day we went to a dentist office that was buying back the candy to send to the troops. Its the first year we've ever done that and it's my new favorite thing. They give you a dollar for every pound which the kids were excited for and then I didn't have to have SIX pounds of candy sitting around my house for the next month. David unfortunately was in Ohio for another interview and missed the kids on Halloween night.

The kids and I also headed to the Rec Center for their annual trunk or treat and bounce house activity on Halloween. It was a very busy day.

Dutch also had his Halloween party at school that I volunteered at on Halloween.

Since David was leaving a few days before Halloween we carved pumpkins early. David has made some crazy pumpkin cravings in the past and I have to say this was his best most mellow year. Dutch wanted to buy a little pumpkin and he carved it all himself. He did excellent.

Aladdin

It's no secret that I love Tuacahn so when Dad called and asked if we would like to go with him and Jackie to see Aladdin of course I said yes. We left a few hours prior, drove up to St. George and met up with Dad and Jackie at a restaurant, grabbed some food and headed off to Tuacahn. Talli was the only one to go to the kids care this year and it was so sad dropping her off, she normally does fine at the gym and nursery so I thought she'd be fine there, she sobbed and clung to me and I had to tear her off of me to hand her over it was heart breaking.
The show was fantastic. They did such an excellent job. Maylee and Dutch both loved it. The Genie was amazing. There are no word to describe how well he did. David was first in line again this year to meet the characters after the show. Maylee didn't run up and give any hugs this year but she was still very thrilled to get her picture taken with Jasmine.

Dutch's Birthday

We made a rule at our house that our kids only get to have friend birthday parties on their even birthdays. Mainly because they cost a lot of money and require a lot of work. So this year Dutch turned 6 and got to have another friend party. He was thrilled. He has made a lot of friends at school this year so he was allowed to invite six friends. He wanted to have a Power Ranger party. He helped pick out his cake, he got to pick out a pinata and some party favors. The day of the party came and his friends arrived. I thought about having it all structured and giving myself a headache over it but then I decided to have some plans thought out for if they get bored but to just let them play. I bought a bunch of the big punching balloons, they played with those for about 45 mins, fully entertained, the ran all around the house, played on the broken trampoline and had a blast. They had a great time breaking open the pinata, opening presents and eating cake. As much effort as goes into these parties, they are totally worth it. I love watching my kids playing with there friends and having so much fun.

Dutch really got spoiled on his birthday this year. A week before his birthday David took him to see Batman Live here in Vegas. They left early and went and got some pizza and then headed to the show. Dutch loved it.

Wicked

      Mom and I decided to take Maylee to see Wicked when it came to Las Vegas. Mom insisted we all wear emerald green. I made Maylee a skirt and spent a lot of time finding my outfit, surprisingly emerald green isn't as easy to find as you might think. The day of the show was a super busy day. We started off going to Dutch's baseball game, then rushing home to get ready for the show and then we headed to the show, went to Chuck E Cheese for Dutch's birthday and then mom got proposed to at my house.

      The show was awesome, of course, and Maylee did really well. She really loved the bright, colorful, singing and dancing scenes, but it lost her attention on the dark, sad scenes. But she never got fidgeting or bored and wanted to leave. She's even asked several times when she gets to see it again. It was so much fun to take Maylee out by herself and do something for just her. I never do that with my kids and I really need to do it a lot more because it was so fun spending the day with Maylee and she certainly loved it and it made her feel super special.

          David is officially a fourth year medical student. This whole experience has just flown by. We are now down to the fun part, trying to get a residency. So for the month of September David has been in Dayton OH doing an Audition Rotation, hopefully securing a spot there at that program. Fawn was kind enough to come watch our kids so I could drive with David from NV to OH. A 32 hour car trip. We left Friday mid-morning, drove to Denver, crashed, woke up early, drove to Indiana, crashed and then drove into Dayton. It was fun! I can't believe how relaxing it is to drive across the country with no kids. Sure our bums got tired from sitting, but it was just so nice to drive without crying, screaming, whining kids in the back seat.
            Ohio is gorgeous. The neighborhood where David is staying is darling. I was instantly in love with the area. I never thought I would be excited about the idea of moving to Ohio but I kind of am. I know the winters will SUCK but I'm prepared for that (I think :) Anyways nothing is set in stone we won't find out where we will end up until February. But everyone loved David there, the program director and the attending  doctor love David and told him several times that the spot is his. To bad we have to wait til the match and can't just sign a contract now. So much can still change by Feb.
        Having David gone for a month was no walk in the park but we survived and it's wonderful to have him home again. It really did go by pretty fast though, Fawn came up twice, my mom and dad took turns watching my kids so I could fly back to Ohio for our anniversary and to really explore the area and see where we would want to live if we ended up there. The only hard time was the last three days just waiting for him to be back already. That drug on.

On Wednesday evening Maylee was telling me that she really wanted to be the leader some day at school. (Each day a new kid is assigned to be the leader, they get to hold the flag and be the first in line). I told her she would get a turn one day. Well... when I was checking her out on Thursday after class her teacher said to me that Maylee got to be the leader and that she would probably enjoy telling me about it. As soon as Maylee came to the door she said "I got to the be the leader today." It made her teacher laugh. On the drive home she said to me so seriously, "Mom why do you think I got to be the leader today?" so I replied, "Probably because you are such a good leader." To which she said, "No that's not it, (long pause) I think I got to be the leader today because I'm so pretty!" I couldn't help but laugh at how factually and innocently she stated that. I wouldn't never say that I'm some terrific Mom, but I have to admit I feel like I am doing something right when my little girl doesn't even hesitate to say she is pretty. I hope she always feels pretty and comfortable in her own skin. Because she truly is one Beautiful girl!

While David and I were driving to Ohio, Grandma bought Maylee what she thought was a fake makeup kit. Turns out it was real and my oh my how Maylee loves doing her makeup.

We had one last swim day over at the Dewitt's house. I sure am glad my kids have such good friends.

Enjoying some Mac & Cheese after swimming. 

These girls are best friends, it'll be a sad day when we have to split them up. 

We made a quick trip to AZ while David was in OH, so I could get my haircut. The kids had a great time playing with their cousins.

Maylee started Preschool at the Rec Center. She was one excited little lady! She had to wait two weeks after Dutch started kindergarten for her school to start, it felt like an eternity to her, she was so excited. She was bouncing with excitement getting ready for school. And it is completely different experience picking up Maylee from school than Dutch. It's like pulling teeth to get Dutch to tell me how is day was, but Maylee just talks non stop when I pick her up and tells me all the little details. I love it! She loves school so much, and I'm very happy that she has her own activity she gets to go to that is just for her. 

The many poses of Maylee!

The last of the randomness for the month of August. 

Maylee dressed all her babies up.

Doing some crafting.

Making some sidewalks with books. Maylee really is my most creative child. 

I made myself a new dress. 

Enjoying some Daddy time before he heads off to Ohio for a month. 

Stacy came to visit. The kids were in love with her little boy Jacob. If it were up to my kids I'd be having another baby really soon. I'm glad it's not up to them. 

Stacy showing me how to do the girls hair. 

Playing Geo Tracks together. 

Enjoying some spaghetti. 

Sound asleep!

Taking Dutch to school.