Weekend with Grandparents from Wisconsin

Grandpa Frye and Alegra
Grandma Frye and Cruz

Shawn's parents, Grandpa and Grandma Frye from Wisconsin, came in for a visit. We have had lots of fun building legos, playing outside, going to the doctor, building forts, etc. Yesterday Grandpa and Daddy worked on our new play set pretty much the whole day. I have to admit, it is pretty cool.
The New Swing Set! The picture doesn't even fit the whole swing set, there are monkey bars and a trapeze bar at the end by the swings.
Family story time, this picture is nice because we hardly have any pictures with the 4 of us in it!

Today we drove over to Heber to ride on Thomas the Train. That was a pretty fun adventure. Tonight, Cruz took Grandma and Grandpa Frye up to his favorite place, the Water Tower by our house. I am sure there will be more adventures tomorrow!

The passenger cars we rode in were so old, it was kind of crazy, but they had nice large windows for Cruz to look out. Cruz sat like this for most of the 25 minute ride, it was so cute!
Mom and Cruz by Thomas. Thomas was located at the front or back of the train depending on which way we were going. I wanted to make sure we got a picture by Thomas!
Dad and Cruz by Thomas

Cruz showing Grandma Hector, which used to be Shawn's when he was little.
Cruz looking at his new bedding that Grandma made him. It is gorgeous and it matches his wall hanging.

3 Year and 6 Month Checkup

Cruz eating a piece of string cheese Grandma and Grandpa Frye brought from Wisconsin. His eyes look a little moist because he just finished having a little fit. We love our Cruz boy but he is kind of in a fit, whiny, temper tantrum stage right now, lets hope he grows out of this one quickly!

The kids had their 3 year and 6 month doctor appointments today. When I initially scheduled the appointment I made their appointments at the same time not really thinking about how hard it would be to handle 2 crying children after shots. Luckily, Kathy, Shawn's mom, was in town and able to go with me. It was a great help having grandma there to help handle the kids. Cruz is doing great. When we first walked back to our room we stopped at an eye chart. Cruz did amazing saying the shapes he saw on the eye chart. Then he had to cover one eye at a time and do it, this was pretty comical. Once he figured out how to cover his eye, he did very well naming the shapes. Then the doctor had me fill out this questionnaire to see how much Cruz knew, etc. Some of the stuff he had to do was jump over a piece of paper, name animals, tell me the sounds the animals make, balance on one foot, point out the body parts I said, and answer questions. One of the questions I had to ask him was, "What do you do with a cup?" Cruz's answer, "spill it!" That was pretty funny. Another one was, "what do you do when you are hungry?", he said, "eat breakfast!" He must wake up pretty hungry :)! Another, "what do you do when you are cold?", he said, "blanket". I thought that was pretty good too! Cruz measured in at 38.9 inches which is the 79%. His weight is 34.5 pounds which is the 75% for his age. He is looking healthy and doing great! He did have to get one shot this time. They have updated one vaccine that he got when he was younger but he didn't get this new form and the doctor recommended it. After he got the shot he really cried and said, "I don't want a shot!" I had a hard time telling him that he already got the shot and that there will not be another for a long time. Luckily I brought some fruit snacks and soon the shot was soon forgotten.
Alegra is her jumperoo. She loves this thing, and boy can she get some air!

Sweet Alegra is doing well too. First and foremost I wanted the Dr. Pete to check out her right ear. He did say it is not normal yet, but it does look like it is on the mend. She is still currently taking her 2 round of antibiotics for her 4th ruptured right ear drum in a month. We will keep our fingers crossed she doesn't get another ear infection or a burst ear drum, otherwise, we will probably have to go see an ear, nose, throat specialist to look into tubes. I just really hope and pray we don't have to go that route. Alegra is doing great for 6 months too. About a week ago I started feeding her rice cereal with some fruit or veggie in the morning sometime after a nursing and in the evening sometime after a nursing. I also have been giving her some probiotics to help keep her stomach regular on all these antibiotics. They have powder form for babies that I put into her rice cereal during one of her feedings. She can be on her stomach for longer and she can push up on her arms pretty well too. She rolls from her stomach to her back and just today at the doctors office she rolled from her back to her stomach on the table while grandma was watching her (this was the second time she has done that). If she really wants to see something behind her she cranes her neck really hard and it gets her body to roll over. I am sure she will just get better and better at this. We are practicing sitting with her and she has started to get really wiggly in her bumbo chair. She is liking to grab my face and hair and reach out and grab toys too. Alegra likes to put anything in her mouth and chew, possibly a sign for teeth coming soon. She is definitely a little person now! She measured in at 26 Inches which is the 58%. She weighed in at 17 pounds which is the 69%, and her head measured 43.4 cm which is the 75%. Alegra got 3 shots today and she cried as well, but luckily she calmed down fairly fast too. The nurse was very good and quick with giving the shots, which was nice. Alegra has such a sweet, happy temperament. Even with all of these ear infections she has been pretty good natured. She loves to watch her brother and she loves to giggle at whatever he is doing. We love our sweet pea!

Our rodeo man

One of Shawn's coworkers gave Cruz this bull and bull rider!

Summer Vacation

It is weird saying that considering it snowed at least 4 inches at our house yesterday and the snowplow truck actually came down our street clearing snow. But typical of Utah weather it is sunny and 70 degrees today, absolutely gorgeous. Cruz had his last day of school (that is what he likes to call it). He told me today that he is ready to ride the bus to school, wow, this little man wants to grow up too quickly. Miss Rita and Miss Mary were great teachers. Today he made a placemat to remember his school by. We are excited to start preschool next year at Swenson Station, but Cruz will not be happy to find out he can't ride the bus there! :(

"THE BIKE"

Shawn got a new mountain bike for his birthday. In true Shawn style though, he looked and looked around to try and find the best deal possible. Shawn and his friend Jeff both wanted new bikes and they found if they got the same bike then bike shops seemed a little bit more willing to work with them. The two of them found the best deal at a bike shop in Fruita, CO. The guys were supposed to pick up their bikes on the way down to the race they did a couple of weeks ago in Mesa Verde. Unfortunately, the shop had not received the frames yet. Shawn and Jeff were planning on going down for a quick trip this weekend just to pick up the bikes, but Jeff could not make it due to a family emergency. I could tell Shawn was itching to get his new bike, the one he has been waiting years for. So, on Saturday morning we packed up the kids and drove to Fruita, Colorado. We stayed that night in a hotel in Grand Junction and the next morning Shawn got up early to test out the new ride. We went back to Fruita to make a few adjustments on the bike. Shawn I both took turns doing a little 4 mile mountain bike ride before hitting the road to come back home. It was a fun, fast trip. The new bike is nice and Shawn really deserves it, he is riding on the bike he road in college and he has been pretty tough on that bike over the years. I hope this Santa Cruz treats him right!
Goin' off roadin'
Little Man riding all over Colorado!

The kids did great. Alegra went along for the ride like she always does and Cruz got some riding in on his bike too. Dad and Cruz also got to swim at the indoor pool at the hotel Saturday night too (along with about 30 ten year old girls who were staying at our hotel for a soccer tournament).


Some potty humor: Cruz had some diarrhea Sunday on our drive home and as he was going to the bathroom he says to Shawn, "my poo is like a river coming out".

Update on Alegra: She burst her eardrum again last Tuesday night. That is the 3rd time this month. I got into the doctor on Thursday and he told me that the amoxicillan didn't kill the original virus and he put her on another antibiotic. She was doing good until Sunday night. She woke up in lots of pain throughout the night. I am so confused on what is going on. We are going to see how tonight goes.

MMO almost over

Cruz only has 1 week left of Mothers Morning Out. He has been going on Tuesdays with his friend Elizabeth Pugh, who lives down the street. I was trying to get a picture of these 2 with Cruz's art project. The series of these pictures make me laugh!






And our sweet little Alegra had a terrible ear ache all night last night and her eardrum ruptured again this morning. That poor little thing, we just stopped the antibiotic from the last one on Sunday night. My dr. wasn't in today but we have an appointment for tomorrow. I just hope we can figure out all of these burst ear drums and solve the problem. This has happened 3 times in the last month and a half and they seem to be getting more painful each time! And as luck would have it, Shawn has been out of town each time it has happened.

Alegra rolled from back to front today!!

Gardening, skiing, and the zoo!

We had another busy Saturday today! The weather was finally nice in SLC, so I was able to plant our garden. The kiddos helped me while Shawn and our neighbor did a road ride. The boys (Cruz and Shawn) then took off to go skiing at Snowbird. Right now the Tram is the only thing open, so Cruz skied off the tram, that is a long way to ski down for a barely 3 year old little boy! They made it down, but it took them a lot longer then Shawn expected. Our friend Scott Schoenbeck went with them and Shawn said it was a good thing because he helped with Cruz. While the boys were skiing I finished up planting our garden. This year we have tomatoes, lettuce, spinach, kale, swiss chard, peas, beans, snap peas, beets, yellow peppers, yellow squash, carrots, raddish, basil, cilantro, and watermelon. Even though it sounds like a lot, I tried to scale back and not plant so much of each thing. Last year we had beets coming out of our ears. We will see if I learned from my mistakes! :)
Alegra playing outside in her exersaucer while I was busy planting! Cruz looking out the tram window
Skiing down from the tram


When the boys came home we quickly packed the truck with the stroller and headed off to the zoo. We were meeting Fran, Steph, Wyatt, Walker, Aunt Linda, and Uncle Frank there (Shawn's aunt and uncle). We were a little late but luckily we still got to see most of the animals with Wyatt. Cruz loves Wyatt, he is only about 9 months older than Cruz. The boys had a blast running around, seeing the animals, chasing each other, and eating popcorn. Little Alegra loved being in her bjorn looking at all the animals as well. We stayed at the zoo until closing time and then went back to Wyatt's house for dinner. The boys had more fun playing. I couldn't believe Cruz didn't fall asleep on the way home, it was 9 p.m. and that little guy had been going like the energizer bunny all day! I think he couldn't fall asleep though because he was asking, why?, to everything. I think he says the word why atleast 100 times a day. I give him an explanation and he asks why to the explanation. At least I know he is curious!
Mom and Cruz on the carousel at the zoo!
Cruz likes to wear his guitar hat. I like him to wear it because it keeps the sun off his face. The other day he put it on kind of crocked and said, "Mom, do I look cool?"
One of Cruz's favorite things to do with daddy after dinner is to walk up to the water tower by our home. I am usually cleaning up and getting Alegra ready for bed, so it is something special they get to do. They usually take a little treat or a special juice box and go up on the water tower to have it. This was taken on Thursday night!

Bedtime Books

12 Hours of Mesa Verde!

Shawn did a ride in Mesa Verde, Colorado this weekend. It was called 12 hours of Mesa Verde, doesn't that sound grueling? Luckily he partnered up with his friend Scott S. The two of them rode 3 laps of 16 miles (mountain biking, and Shawn was doing it on his single speed), yikes! They had a fun time though, even though both of the guys ran into some technical difficulties with their bikes.

This is a picture of Shawn and Marc. Several of the Pedros team members went down and competed in teams. Marc and Derek Parra finished 1st out of all the Pedros teams!

Mothers Day

Today I had a very nice Mothers Day. Cruz sang with all the other primary children in church, he made me a card at school, and overall both of the kids were great. I am so appreciative of my own mother this day to. She is such a rock and strength to me, thank you mom for all you do!



Cruz shooting fire!
Alegra doing her favorite trick, blowing out her lips!

toilet paper and ear drums......

Yesterday Cruz put about half the roll of toilet paper in the toilet and then flushed. I came into the bathroom to see water flowing up and out of the toilet all over the floor. When I realized what he did I quickly grabbed a bunch of towels. Later in the day I worked on the toilet and I thought I got it unclogged, just to discover when I flushed it again, that I didn't, and water poured out again. I quickly grabbed more towels and resolved not to touch the toilet again! :) Shawn left for a bike race yesterday morning, so luckily my brother Russ came over and helped me unclog the toilet last night.

Alegra started to get REALLY fussy (for her, which isn't that bad) early evening. I knew something was wrong, I just wasn't sure what. She had a very hard time getting comfortable and was up a ton between 9-1. I gave her some Tylenol at about 1 and luckily she slept until about 5. When I looked at her right ear this morning I saw some greenish gunk coming out. I thought it might be mucus (ya know how sometimes when you have a cold it comes out your nose, eyes, etc). I thought about it and called the dr. I didn't want the weekend to come and not have help, incase it was an ear infection. We went in around 2 and the doctor cleared out her ear enough to see and discovered she had a burst ear drum and an ear infection....poor girl, ouch!!!! The green was puss coming out from her ear drum. Luckily we have amoxicilian and ear drops, yea!!

Happy Birthday Cruz!

Cruz is officially 3 TODAY! I can't believe our little guy is 3. He is very good at telling you and showing you he is 3 too. Cruz got very spoiled with presents both at a family party Sunday and more presents today. Luckily he is a very good player. Cruz wanted pizza for dinner and doughnuts for dessert, so that is what he got! We had a very fun, special day hanging out together. I love it when he tells me I am his best friend, it melts my heart!

Grandpa & Grandma F sent Cruz a hiking kit with binoculars, walkie talkies, a compass, and water bottle. They also sent him a parachute, cool!
We gave Cruz a tee ball set!
Aunt Leigh, Uncle Brian, Nicholas, Max, and Caden gave Cruz a doctor set. Cruz is wearing his Snowbird shirt that daddy got him for his birthday!
Cruz was so excited to open his gifts we had a hard time getting him to look at the camera. Sometimes he would unwrap his gifts with this fake smile saying cheese just to please us so he could open his gifts!

Cruz is so smart. I can't remember all the funny things he says all day, but he has me rolling. What I really think is funny is he is picking up on Shawn and my words and phrasing, like "oh dang it" or "holy cow". It cracks me up.