Pop-a-Wheeler Farm

As long as I've lived in Utah (my whole life), I've never been to Wheeler Farm, and when my sister-in-law, Katie, suggested we take the kids, I didn't really know what to expect. The weather was beautiful, and the kids were eager, so we hauled all ten grand-kids to this "working farm". Admission is free, but you can pay for a little tractor ride and some duck feed, or as my kids call it "a bag of wheat". Armed with said duck feed, the first place we headed was the large pond full of overfed ducks who were patient enough to let all the kids pelt them with wheat kernels.

Next we moved on to some of the other animal pens. Rory was completely fascinated with the Roosters, and even tried to share her sippy cup with one of them.

After that we saw some horses that were getting a bath at the time. The first thing Rory said when she saw them was "Moooo!", so perhaps we need to keep working on our animal sounds :). Apparently a baby calf had been born the previous Friday, so that was our next stop.

Then we headed over for the tractor ride. I think the kids were more interested in the idea of it than the actual execution; nobody was too wowed by it, it seemed.

Speaking of tractors, there were all sorts of farm implements around and we tried to get all the grand-kids together on a big yellow tractor to take a picture, but we couldn't make it work. So I snuck one with just my kids.

We saw some more animals, including this baby goat who'd somehow managed to climb into the feed trough.

Then we wandered over to this really cool gnarly, old tree. The kids had a blast climbing on it, and despite our lack of success with the tractor, we decided to try for another group picture.

After that it was getting to be nap time, so we began to make our way back to the cars. As we walked, Rory came upon a goose, and must have thought it would be as fun to play with as the Rooster was earlier, because she made a beeline towards it. Dany ran after her to try and pet it too, and that mean little bird nearly took a bite out of her!

I had the camera ready for a photo-op, so I managed to capture it. Thankfully everyone managed to escape unscathed.

The kids all had a really good time, and especially given the free admission, it made a great little field trip. I'd recommend it to anyone looking for a good kid activity.

Million Dollar Baby

That's Dany's new nickname, courtesy of her most recent trip to the hospital. I mean, the kid's only four, and she's been to the hospital five times, not including the day she was born.

This most recent trip was due to a playground injury. Dany fell off some monkey bars while Maisie was trying to "help" by holding her feet. So instead of dropping to her feet and maybe escaping with a scrape or two, she fell flat on her butt. I figured she'd just had the wind knocked out of her, but she wasn't really recovering, and her face had visibly paled despite the heat. She was also in obvious pain, and her breathing was shallow. Despite where she'd landed, it was her upper back that was hurting her. Preferring to be safe rather than sorry, I took her to the Instacare, where they took several x-rays, gave her some ibuprofen and a thorough exam, then sent us on our way when they couldn't really see anything on the films. We stopped at my mom's house to pick up the other kids, and hung out for awhile why I waited for Rory to wake up. I got home around four, to three missed calls and a voicemail from the doctor, and the phone rang again right as I walked in the door. Turns out the radiologist had seen something on the films, and they wanted more pictures. So we headed back to the Instacare, took more x-rays, and did a whole lot of waiting.

Once they'd had time to study the films, they called up to Primary's and informed them of the situation, and Primary's recommended we head up there. Of course. We arrived around six, and were thankfully shown to a room quickly. They wanted some more x-rays done to get a better picture of her back. We did a lot of waiting while a bunch of specialists supposedly were studying her films, and poor Dany was starving because she hadn't really been allowed to eat anything, just in case they needed to do some procedure. Finally we got some answers, but sadly not much more than what we already knew.

Her diagnosis: compression fractures in her thoracic spine.
Treatment: not much.

We basically have to keep her from running, jumping, or dancing for the next week or so. When my sister-in-law heard that she said, "Have they met Dany?" Tell me about it. Maybe I should try and hold back the tide while I'm at it. Not to mention, Teag's Lagoon Day for his work is this Saturday, and there's barely anything we feel safe letting her ride. I'm sure that's going to go over well.

No pictures for this post. Too depressing.

School's Out For Summer!

At least for Dany anyway. Last Wednesday was Dany's Preschool Graduation, and in order to make sure she looked extra pretty, we rolled her hair in curlers the night before.

She very much looked and felt the part of a princess, and was quite pleased with the result. Here she is with her two cousins who were also in her same class.

Dany got to help do the Pledge of Allegiance with another little boy, who enthusiastically shouted "Amen!" when they were finished. We got to hear a sampling of all the things they'd learned that year, and then each child got to stand on a podium while they were handed their diploma, as they listened to one of the teachers read some of their favorite things.

Everyone had quite a chuckle when it was read that Dany's favorite restaurant is Red Lobster. None of that boring old chicken for this kid! :) We made sure to get a picture with Miss Jen, their teacher. Dany had such a great time at school this year, and really loved her, and she was very patient with the kids..

Maisie still has about a week left of school, but for one of the year-end assemblies, both she and her cousin  Caitlyn were chosen to read their essays on one of the school's 7 Habits they've been working on and discussing all year. Ironically, both Maisie and Caitlyn's habit was "Begin with the end in mind".

They both did a really good job, and expressed themselves well.

Congratulations to our two oldest; your parents and family are very proud of all your hard work and achievements!