For lunch today the boys wanted to eat outside, but the wind started blowing just as they got outside. So I let them sit on the floor in the kitchen, they thought that was so fun.

The other day Austin wanted to sleep on this chest in our living room, with the sheep skin that my Grandma & Grandpa Van Deren brought home from there mission in New Zealand. I didn't think he would really fall asleep? But I guess that was comfortable enough for him:) Oh yeah and he looks like he might be naked, but he really had pants on:)

Block Wall

We have finally started our block wall! We decided to dig the footings and poor the concrete ourselves, then hire someone to lay the block. Tyler (Melinda's husband), I guess I can call him Uncle Tyler:), dug the footing for us. Now we just have some manual digging to finish and hopefully we can poor the footings in the next couple weeks. We have had trouble with the city, telling us we cant put up a six foot wall on one section of fence, and some trouble with one of the gates we wanted. Hopefully everything will get worked out...It is frustrating to me that we cant do what we want on our own property. But we are trying to understand.

Croup

Im finally getting around to writing about what we have been up to lately. Two 1/2 weeks ago Austin started running a fever. This lasted for a few days, then he started having trouble breathing on Friday night and had a bad night. Saturday we went to a walk in clinic in Taylor. They didnt take our insurance and the doctor said if his lungs werent clear he did not have the equipment to ex ray his chest, and suggested I take him to a walk in clinic in ShowLow. So we went up there. The doctor said he had croup and gave me a prescription for a liquid steroid. Austin had to drink 3oz of this really nasty stuff....now how was I going to get him to do that. Well after much talking and promising he got that nasty stuff down. Just as I was cheering it all came back up on me. He didnt get a thing on him it was all over me?! Yum! So we laughed at him when he told everyone what he did. He would make this puking sound that was funny. Well this was just the beginning of our troubles.

Cayden also got sick, starting with a fever but quickly he started having trouble breathing. I debated weather to take him to the doctor, since Croup is a virus there isnt much they can do for them, except the steroids, which were nasty. But one evening I had tried to get him breathing better by steaming in the bathroom and going outside in the cool air, and nothing worked. So we went to another walk in clinic in Snowflake. This time we saw Dr Nichols. Cayden's oxygen was low and he told me to take him straight the the ER. They were giving him a breathing treatment before I left, and Cayden got really upset and really started breathing bad. So Dr said if he got upset like that in the car on the way up to the hospital his heart could stop. So they called an ambulance. That was a really weird feeling. And we could hear the ambulance coming. So they hauled us to the hospital. The breathing treatments were not helping much, so they gave him a shot of steroids. Meanwhile Reed, and my brother Chad came to the hospital to give Cayden a blessing. I was very glad they came and felt much better about everything after the blessing. They got his oxygen up but he was still wheezing, so they were debating whether to keep us overnight or not. They decided to let us go home. He slept pretty good that night and was doing better by the next day. But two days later he started running another fever, and his breathing got worse?! SO back to the doctor we go and I couldnt believe it when she sent us to the ER! Two ER visits within a week?! The doc was worried it was turning into pneumonia, and wanted him to have breathing treatments, blood drawn and ex ray his chest. So three hours later in the ER they diagnosed him with Bronciolitis. I guess it has nothing to do with Croup but may be asthma related. He could have some mild asthma that will show up when he gets sick, so I guess we will find out next time he gets sick. So we did four breathing treatments a day for five days then did two a day for a couple days and now he is completely better. He had a rough time, he was so sick of doctors and nurses! Probably the worst part was in the ER when they had to do blood tests. I know how bad those needles hurt, and it took three of us to hold him down...poor kid. These are just a few pictures of him when he was sick.

Parade

Austin and some of his cousins had there picture taken at the 24th parade. It was in the paper last week.