A House of Hagfeldt's

Gotta love a Las Vegas winter..

2012-02-05T21:37:00.000-08:00

This, folks, is why us crazy Las Vegans endure a Las Vegas 117 degree everyday in July, August and September summer...so that in January, we enjoy 64 degrees everyday weather. There's hardly any wind, (I jinxed the last fews days saying that) the temperature is perfect and it doesn't rain. I love that I can go out and do my walk any time of the day or night, and it's totally possible without freezing my bazooka off.

I love living in Las Vegas. Even if the traffic is crazy, the drivers are crazier and forget how to take turns at a 4 way stop, the middle schoolers are asking for a death wish on a daily basis with how they cross the street, the high schoolers are out of school by 130 and "hanging out" suspiciously at every Circle K and Fresh and Easy, and it takes 45 minutes to get to almost the other side of town, etc, we get 65 degree days in January. I love getting into my van to go pick my kids up from school and its so warm I have to turn on the AC...in January people, January. It just doesn't get much better than that, well, unless I was living by the beach of course. But I am so grateful we got stationed here. We get to be close to both our families and Vegas has Schlotzsky's. If you don't know what that is, you be missin out! I love my friends, my ward,
with awesome Missionaries,
my family, and this great city. I love that we were able to buy our house at a great price, and that it's layout is conducive to having a swing hanging from the ceiling in between our kitchen table and great room (hence, the swing Elder Leidecker is sitting on) I love that they have a movie theater here that shows an "autism friendly movie" every month. I love that there's casino's for "locals" that cater to "locals" like me! I don't indulge in gambling, but I do like to see movies and eat at the buffet, nay I say, be gluttonous at the buffets, that are made just for me, a local. I love Chase's bus drivers, and Allie's awesome charter school she attends for freeeeee (said like Adam Sandler in Mr Deeds). I love how Vegas has a funny way of sucking you back in, when you NEVER in your wildest dreams thought you'd ever return but just to visit. Never say never!!!I know we won't be here forever, because there will come a time when it's best to leave and go somewhere else that will better suit Chase's needs, but for right now, this is where it's at. 2 turn tables and a microphone...where it's at--thanks Beck for those song lyrics.
Oh and Vegas has the coolest sunsets, nothin like a desert sunset to gaze at..

I swear to you, seriously, not kidding in one bit when I say that this photo is NOT doctored at all whatsoever. This crazy awesome sunset happened last week and it was talked about on FB for days after by us locals. This is exactly what it looked like in person...superb! The only reason I saw it was because Allie happened to look out the window and saw it first. So we opened up our back door and enjoyed for as long as it was there. Even Chase stepped outside and looked at it. I LOVE when he cares about things like that. I feel like each time, he steps further outside of the autism grip.

After the sunset faded, the kids enjoyed the swings..indoor and out! Funny how in Las Vegas, you only wanna swing outside in the winter but indoors in the summer...i think most places it's the opposite! Swinging outside in the summer here is like getting slapped in the face with a hairdryer on full blast. We cover both bases at our house :)
Gotta love Vegas..

For a good cause

2012-01-28T21:46:00.000-08:00

First of all, I just have to say (brag) that I belong to the best ward in the world. Recently, a member of Chase's Primary class (6 yrs old) was diagnosed with Burkett's Lymphoma and has begun chemotherapy. He was getting discouraged when his hair started falling out, so the men in our ward decided to have a head shaving party, so Caleb didn't have to go through the hair loss alone. Here's Eric supporting Caleb at the Head Shaving Party last Saturday.

The "before" pic in our loft

At the head shaving party

Time for the Bic!


Looking good! Happy to do it for Caleb!

Eric was a little bit concerned that he might get in trouble at work for his hair because shaved bald, but he didn't really care! It was for a good cause. But then he found out that a "clean shaved head" was permitted in the AF so no worries!

By the way, Eric made Tech Sergeant in the Air Force! I don't have the pics downloaded yet of his promotion ceremony but when i get that done, i'll proudly post the pics! That sentence made me feel like Jim Carrey's assistant in Mr Poppers Penguins that always used words that began with the letter P!

We wanted to take Chase to the Head Shaving Party but Chase and electric trimmers don't mix. We have to cut Chase's hair at home and hope the screaming doesn't alarm the neighbors. *sigh* the joys of autism and their sensitive ears.

For the past almost 2 years, Allie has been growing her hair out for Locks of Love. It was finally time, and no better time than now!

Allie's "before" pic

Braid is all ready to be chopped off!

My cute master beautician niece Lanita doing the honors

Seconds after the braid was cut


Allie's proud to give her hair to a great cause!

Last Sunday in Elders Quorum, they took a pic of all the men that shaved their heads. There were lots more that did it that aren't in the pic. So much wonderful support! Caleb loved seeing the pics of everyone that are cheering him on :)

And last but certainly NOT least, our totally rockin awesome Bishopric with their new do's...

Pictured from left to right: Brother Naumu, Bishop Ferre, and Brother Love
Aren't they awesome?!! It just doesn't get any better than this :)

Christmas 2011-part 2

2012-01-20T18:59:00.001-08:00

More pics from our craaazy family Christmas/birthday partay...


A few of my nieces

Me and Charlyce...and the back of Lanita's cute blond head...

The b-day gal takin pics :)

Eric's grandma, mami, papi, and sis...and if you look close, you can see Chase behind Eric's mom..Chase did AMAZING at the family party. There were alot of people there, and he stayed around everyone the whole time. He never got over stimulated, he interacted, and he ate! It is so awesome to see his progress!

Allie's school concert...

Chase, uh, i mean, Iron Man, playing the Wii on Christmas

We visited the Ethel M Factory a couple of days before Christmas... chocolate and Christmas go together superbly I say!

Chase and great grandma at the Ethel M Factory

Allie and her best buds....

Us, minus Chase...where was Chase?? Oh, that's right...he hates being in pictures, which is why we haven't gotten a family pic taken since 2008 or 2009, but I'm pretty sure it was 2008

What you see here is what we gave Eric's parents for Christmas this year. We had all his sibs do the "Toyota jump", and then we made them into silhouettes. It turned out so cool, and no matter what Eric says, It Was My Idea. That's right. Don't mind all the glasses sitting on the counter...those were used by Eric to help glue down the silhouettes with modge podge. I forgot to move em before taking a pic.


My new-found-christmas-love-of-2011

I tell you what...if I wasnt already married....

Our front door...Eric and I made this wreath. It cost a total of $5 dollars. LOVE dollar store crafts!
We didn't do anything for New Years except go out for Mexican food; we're old fogies now and can never make it till midnight! LAME-O

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!

Christmas 2011-1

2012-01-14T11:39:00.000-08:00

There is a strange force working against me! It's definitely not "the force", ya know, from Star Wars...otherwise, if it was, I'd have had this blog post done long ago! It keeps erasing on me! Always after I load all the pics and write captions for them.
I feel like I'm taking crazy pills!!!! (Name that movie) The winner will receive a virtual pat on the back.
Anyway....Happy New Year and all that jazz! I was very happy to have my parents home for the holidays. While on their mission, they only had to miss one Christmas!
So last year, on Christmas night, we, meaning just my little family of 4, we started a new tradition...by accident!
Don't ya love when that happens??
Is it a tradition if you've only done it once, but want to do it annually but can't do it the second year because of what day Christmas fell on?
Allow me to explain if you will.
Last year we were supposed to go visit some family that live on the other side of town, but Chase was a bit under the weather, and we just didn't think it kosher to go over to their house since we don't go there often, so we decided to instead, give Chase his nightly "sleep medicine" which is the only thing that turns off his autistic brain and allows him to slumber but for a while, and go to the drive in theater because Papa John's pizza and the Drive-in was about the only thing open on Christmas night besides the casino's and that wasn't where I wanted to spend Christmas...crazy?
So we swung by Papa Johns, felt bad that they had to work...yet glad they were, and drove to the drive in with our pizza, and smuggled microwave popcorn and root beer.
It was so fun! So we decided to do it every year on Christmas night.
I had the movie all picked out for this year, we were gonna see the new Matt Damon movie "We bought a Zoo'. (i have yet to see it dag nammit...maybe tomorrow)
Then, the inevitable happened, i learned that Christmas was on a Sunday. dun dun duuuuuuuun.
Don't get me wrong! I love the Sabbath Day and look forward to it always! But since we're "one of those, ya know, Mormons" we wouldn't be buying pizza and or going to the movies on Sunday. So Christmas night this year was spent as a nice quiet, healthy, leftover eating, day of playing with new Christmas gifts and napping.
On Christmas Eve, we spent it at Eric's mami and papi's house with the missionaries and my parents and Eric's grandmama. We were fancy that night with french potato (served cold) soup. Loved it!

Then, the day after Christmas, we had a wild party (wild in the Mormon community such as lots of soda drinking, playing of the Wii, white elephant gift exchanging that included a pair of Flash Gordon underpants,
and singing Happy B-day to me mum. If asked, she's 52 and holding... She's been "holding" for a while so she's just decided to start going backwards now :)
This Christmas was fun because Chase, for the first time, was 1.) interested in why there were presents under the tree, and 2.) when he could open them.


Christmas Eve PJ's

Cool hats made by their Aunt

Eric and I were sitting at the kitchen table a couple of days before Christmas and Chase is standing next to the Christmas tree and says "open it" and we asked him "open what?" and he responded with " presents!" We LOVED that he answered our question first of all, and that he showed interest! He's never been concerned with any of it! So for the first year, he actually opened his gifts, and enjoyed them. I didn't get a very good pic of him opening gifts. I snapped a few when he was still trying to wake up, so he's got his "I literally was just dragged outta bed by my sister and am still trying to wake up" blank stare but still opening his stocking gifts, so it counts!

(Allie loving her new orange nail polish)

He was waking up a little more by this time, and within a few more minutes, he was gladly opening his presents on his own and fully awake!

Ready for church!!! Yes, they really did attend Sac Mtg like this :)
Gotta love Christmas on a Sunday

One of the prizes at the fam partay...that's my handsome hubs

Even Chase trying the glasses out, but not understanding the eyeballs are supposed to swing to and fro..

Allie's recital

2011-12-23T07:32:00.000-08:00


(While playing her recital piece Away in a Manger)


(Right after she finished playing her piece FLAWLESSLY I might add :)

As I've mentioned before, Eric did not marry a good picture taker. And the first two pics did not disappoint. But in my defense, i was way in the back, by no means own a fancy-fied camera and there was a dad with a billion kids he was trying to shoo out of the pew right in front of me while i was trying to get a pic of Allie curtsying after she was done playing.
Anyhoo, i love this last pic of her with her piano teacher. Allie literally played her recital piece with no mistakes. Eric and I were proud as poppy seed pie. Is a real thing? Sounds kinda good though....
Allie received a way cool trophy with her name and the year on it, and she has it proudly displayed for all to see. I am so proud of her, she practiced hard and we all enjoyed the reward. She loves playing the piano! I just hope that she will continue to feel this way and be willing to practice and not become a tween/teen and give it up. She promises me all the time she will try to not be a rotten teenager when she gets older. I hope she lives up to that promise!
Great job Allie gator!

Smorgasborg--or however you spell this--kind of blog post.

2011-12-09T23:15:00.000-08:00

So I finally finished up with our summer road trip vacation pics, now it's time to play catch up with what's happened since then...it's only December you know!
But since summer, we've started school, had Halloween, Thanksgiving and now it's Christmas time! As quick as it was for me to type all of the last sentence is exactly how fast it all flew by too! What?!!??

Yet another year for Allie to attend a school that wears a 'school uniform'. I lurve it, Allie doesn't!


Chaser here doesn't attend a school that wears uniforms. In Allie's words "He just does NOT know how lucky he is". I say to her "Them's the breaks Allie!"

Our awesomely new huge kitchen sink that I love.

It's one of those kind where the middle divider thingy is only half as tall at the sink so you can fit your cookie sheets and griddle pans in the sink to wash! How exciting! Yes, this is what my life has come to people....

That's one cute kitty, oh yeah, we're to Halloween now....

Allie and Chase with their cousin Gavin. Not sure what Chase is doing with his hands here...flapping them like usual I suppose! Lemmie just say for taking 3 kids trick or treating, 2 of those said kids being autistic, we totally nailed it. No one cried, fell to the ground, or had a melt down. Success!!!! And the best part is, I could eat as much of Chase's Halloween candy as I wanted, and he was none the wiser. Allie on the other hand photographically in her mind somehow memorized all her candy and noticed when a Butterfinger was missing. How does she do that?!! The girl takes her Halloween candy possession very seriously...whatdoyado??

Doing some detective FBI work....


Done with Trick or Treating and enjoying a Cranberry Sierra Mist...only the best soda ever invented and only available during the Holidays...they should pay me for this endorsement. Just pay no never mind to the paint stained kitchen table we possess. There comes a point when you just give up scrubbing the paint off when your child somehow always finds where you hide the paints. It's time to start over! Thank goodness for belt sanders and Lowe's Paint!


I just dig our tree. I dig dig dig it. I am a lover of the 'fake' Christmas trees...am I alone in this???	Whew...how's that for playing catch up! Up next: Thanksgiving pics!

The Stanley Hotel

2011-12-01T14:03:00.000-08:00

One of the things we toured was the Stanley Hotel.
Sound familiar perhaps? They say it's haunted. It was Stephan King's inspiration for the novel The Shining. He conceived the idea for the novel when he and his wife stayed at the hotel. He had originally been working on writing a story where a family gets locked in an amusement park, but the story just didn't feel right to him until he stayed at the Stanley Hotel and got the inspiration to change the story to a family that stayed in a hotel to take care of it in the winter when it was closed. When they filmed the movie with Jack Nicholson, they actually didn't use much of the Stanley Hotel in the filming because the director (Stanley Kubrick) didnt think that there was enough snow so they actually filmed parts of it in London where there was more snow. But then in 1997, ABC made a TV version of The Shining where the filming did take place at the actual Stanley Hotel. The hotel was also used in a part of the movie Dumb and Dumber, but it in the movie, it's called Hotel Danbury.
So, there you have it, a brief history of The Stanley Hotel.

1909 was the year the Stanley Hotel was built.

Pic of what the hotel looks like in the winter.


The Ball Room-"supposedly" haunted.

They built this stage just for the filming of the 1997 version of The Shining and decided to leave it after filming completed.

These are the original keys they used to issue to guests but if they lost it, it was 200 dollars to replace so they use key cards now but still have these keys on display.

The pics that hang in Men's bathroom....creepy!! In the Women's bathroom, it's all Dumb and Dumber pics.

View from the Hotel

You can take a ride through Estes Park on an old school fire truck...tons o fun! Kids loved it.

Us with Eric's mami and papi

Us in front of the Hotel

Sure doesn't look like a haunted hotel in this pic!

A few before Halloween

2011-11-12T11:35:00.000-08:00

So by now, most everyone in the blogging world has posted their kids Halloween costumes. I'm not even close to being "there" yet, still stuck in summer!

In Hot Springs SD, they have this really cool Mammoth Site. We jumped on that like white on rice as we were driving thru to go to Colorado.

Foot print!!!

They've uncovered so many fossils and it was so interesting to take the tour and learn about how they discovered them and when...and just how old these bones are!
To learn a quick overview of the history of it all and check out the website, click here.

From there, we went to the Rocky Mountains, and stayed in Estes Park, where I fell in love with a town.

Hiking in the Rocky Mtns in August

For as long as I live, I will make it our goal to someday retire in Estes Park. Have you ever been there? If not, you should go. It's beautiful, the summers are divine, the air is clean and clear, and the people are nice, well, that's not giving them justice because I live in Las Vegas, and it's a big city, and you know how "people" in big cities can be to one another, especially driving, but I digress. We spent 4 days there and Eric had to pry me away when it was time to leave because I thought I had died and went to Heaven. We WILL live there someday, oh yes, we will. As long as its conducive to Chase's needs of course :) Everything always will depend on my little man:) I wanna live somewhere that you don't have to have your AC on 24 hrs a day and you can open windows at night in the summer. Don't get me wrong, i love Vegas from the end of Oct to about April 1st. Then our love/hate relationship begins again. Yes, I'm sure it gets cold there, and as i say this, it's 37 degrees there and the high for Vegas today is 66. Really, you can't beat that. THIS is why people live in Las Vegas..you can't beat 66 degrees in November. Maybe we'll just have a summer home there, ya know, because we're gonna win the Lottery and be able to afford that. And come back to Vegas for the winter.

On our hike

This little dude followed us almost the whole way on our hike to the waterfall.


How Chaser spent most of his time hiking. Lucky dog.

Butterfly on my butt.

My daughter happy to have finally arrived at the waterfall :0)

First time seeing a moose in my life (My city girl life is showing)

We did ALOT of hiking there, who wouldn't right?? LOVED it. That clean mountain air hopefully cleaned out my Las Vegas lungs for a while.

Gorgeous, and I ain't just talkin "bout the peeps in the pic

Elk! One of the few times I've seen these bad boys in real life...i really gotta stop embarrassing myself like this.

Snow in August, we were only at ya know, like 13 thousand feet here...but we drove to this point. Freezing!

This pic looks alot more dangerous than it was..I promise she was in no real danger. It may look like it's a cliff below, but it wasn't. I swear.


Wait...did i already post this pic?? I can't remember....this is what happens when you post a ton of pics in one post. Don't ya just love when people go on a hike and post a ton of pics of the scenery that mean everything to them but nothing to the people looking at the pics? Not saying i did that or anything... :)

P.S. Did i mention i want a cabin the Rocky Mountains? Did i mention I want to follow the rule that when you bring your groceries inside your house, you have to make sure you either put them away right away if your kitchen window is open, or close your kitchen window so Yogi Bear wont come in and eat them? Or when you leave your house, you have to make sure not to leave the back door open with just the screen door blocking the outside because animal friends could come in for a visit? Sounds superb! Would I rather have a bear break in....or a burglar with a gun and more on his mind that stealing the hot dogs and steaks sitting next to the fridge...I'll take the bear...uh oh, is my city girl naive-ness showing again?

One of these days...

2011-10-19T12:41:00.000-07:00

I may actually finish blogging about our summer vacation. It's ONLY October ya know...and we're just in the throws of Fall and all. Well, it only feels like "Fall" in Vegas because it's not 90 bazillion degrees at 7am, it's actually in the 60's now, whew! I love when we finally get a respite from the summer heat come the middle of October. Vegas is so great, except for July, August, Sept, and most of October :)

Allie standing with Wild Bill

So our next stop after the Alpine Slide was Deadwood, SD.
It's a tiny town that's famous for the fact that Wild Bill Hickock was shot and killed there. We got to watch a few reenactments of the shootout and see the actual bar that he was shot dead playing poker at.
Deadwood's a cute little town full of tourism fun in the summer. Well, everyone but Eric and Chase got to see the shootouts, because when they fired off the first gun shot, I've never in my life heard Chase scream like he screamed at that moment. He was sitting by me on the sidewalk where everyone was waiting for the show to start, and they set a tin can on a stool and shot it off before the actual show started and Chase about had a heart attack. The shot was pretty loud. Chase screamed, covered his ears, and then jumped on me to hide. I felt SO bad for him, and then I was kicking myself for not even thinking that Chase wouldn't be able to handle the noise. Duh! I know his autism makes loud noises hard for him to handle physically and emotionally, but none of us were expecting he'd be affected so drastically. The fear in his eyes when he looked up at me ripped my heart out, tossed it on the ground, and ran it over with a semi.
After that happened, and as quick as could be, Eric scooped Chase up, threw him over his shoulder, and took off faster than a wet cat thrown in the bathtub. When we all got back to the car, Eric said Chase screamed the whole way back to the car and only stopped once they were settled in the van :( My heart still hurts thinking about it, how scary it must have felt for Chase. I was about to jump up and take Chase away but when he jumped into my lap, it threw me off balance and as i was trying to settle myself, that's when Eric took over.
(This is moments before the tin can got shot)

This is the pic that got taken from dropping my camera when Chase screamed out.

So, needless to say, Chase didn't see the show. As much as I wanted to go with Eric to comfort Chase as best I could, I knew I needed to stay with Allie. It's sometimes quite hard to find that balance between having a child with autism and another child without autism. I never want my daughter to feel like she always got jipped in life growing up because of her special needs brother. I don't want her to resent him for how we have to live our lives. Jealously is a common factor in a "typical" ( normal, no handicaps) child who has a sibling with special needs. I mean, it totally makes sense for them to get jealous when they're brother or sister's milestones are applauded maybe just a little bit louder, because they are longer coming. All the therapies Chase has had and still has makes the focus go towards Chase more, and she's had to deal with that almost her whole life. So we try hard to make sure she feels special, even if she gets less attention from the world. It's a very fine line to walk and must always be watched. But it's worth doing.

Since last time....

2011-10-13T20:42:00.000-07:00

Shortly after I posted my last post, our PC went kaput...died, fried, majorly kicked the bucket. We have a laptop but all the pictures from the rest of our summer roadtrip vacay were on the PC.
Eric, being the computer nerd that he is thankfully, has fixed the computer and it's now up and running again with a much newer version of Windows...sa-weet!

So after we spent time at Mount Rushmore, we toured the Wind Caves. If you ever go to Mt Rushmore, you HAVE to tour the Wind Caves. They-were-so-cool. But be sure to take a jacket, it's a tad bit chilly when you're down in them caves! Luckily, we were prepared.

And after you tour the Wind Caves, be sure to pull off to the side of the road and look at the Crazy Horse Memorial. You can pay a lot of money to go see it closer, but we figured when we could see it just fine from the side of the road, we'd save ourselves a few bucks and not go in the park. It's far from being done and it's taking a long time, but it'll be pretty awesome when it's done.

The next day, we went and slid on the Alpine Slide. Another MUST DO if you're in the Keystone SD area!

Chase was a little freaked out when it was time to get on the moving seat!!

The 2 white lines are the slides...

You could see Mt Rushmore while riding the ski lift to the top of the slide. Awesome!

A future president!!!

Chase willingly put his face in the line up.
Miracle people...miracle.

It was so much fun we paid to do it twice. The first time we did it, it was a little scary because there were signs the whole way down telling you to not go too fast on the turns or you'll turn yourself right off the slide! But after the first time going down, we instantly became pro's and flew down the second time, and loved every stinking second of it. I LOVE Keystone SD...have I mentioned that yet??

THE Mount Rushmore

2011-09-21T23:05:00.000-07:00

So, i was totally motivated to blog everyday until i was out of pics and stories about our summer roadtrip. But then I caught a headcold, (totally lame) so I was out of circuit for a week....but I'm back and off the Nyquil/Dayquil regimen and ready to blog with my pumpkin smash smoothie from Jamba Juice sitting next to me which I am in love with it, seriously, you think I jest, but I do not.
So...after we left Martin's Cove, we drove to South Dakota and stayed for 3 days in a cabin in Keystone. Oh my goodness sakes. It.is.so.beautiful there. Living in Las Vegas, you forget that other places in America are so green!

I mean, really? People actually get to live in a place this beautiful? I could have stayed there forever, f-o-r-e-v-e-r.

It was P-E-R-F-E-C-T weather for those 3 days we were there, and no mosquitoes were seen, no rain, just sunshine and 70 degree weather. There was fog for like 5 minutes when I snapped this pic but that was it. Well, the very first day we'd got there, it had rained before we got there, so it was 60 something degrees outside and my desert butt was freezing! The locals thought I was nuts, but hey, I'm used to 115 degree weather, even at night time! Anyhoo, it was heaven. We had deer in our front yard and if you drove up the road a bit to a town called Hill City, along the way there would be free range cows, just standing right by the road! They were huge, and totally awesome. The very first time I saw a cow close up was when I was serving a mission for the LDS church in the great state of Wisconsin. I found out the hard way cows don't really like to be pet on the top of their head while their heads are in those holder thingy's while they're getting milked. What did I know? I was a Las Vegas native! Anyway, it was lovely there. I've never seen so many deer in my life.
So our second day there, we went and visited Mount Rushmore. If you have never been there, GO. It is so worth seeing. It is magnificent. It is so much bigger than I thought it was. And Roosevelt's glasses are cool!


Us with all of Eric's family except his little bro and fam


This is what it was supposed to look like when it was all finished. I had no idea it wasn't finished in the first place! Looks good to me just the way it is, ya know?!?!

Me and my beautiful girl!

Chase lovin it! He was so good while we were there, we only lost him once that day! (And not for very long.) He is a wanderer, a bolter I like to say, which is why we got him a trusty medical bracelet.

Allie and Chase with their cuz Taylor

Leading up the pathway to observe mt rushmore, there was every state listed and what year it became a state.

Yumm-o


This is the view when you're first walking in, or if you turn around and look back when you're walking out..whichever or both! :)

Willie and Martin Handcart Companies visitors sites

2011-09-13T13:28:00.000-07:00

I realized last night while I was writing this blog, that I had posted my Yellowstone blog on September 11th and I didn't want to pass up the opportunity to pay tribute to the importance of that day in our American history. This past Sunday, on September 11th, we had Stake Conference. The Stake President gave a wonderful talk on faith and remembrance of all those that died because of the 9-11 tragedy. He spoke of the hero's on the planes that defended our country. He gave an honorable tribute to the men, women and children that perished, that survived and that sacrificed to save the lives of all they could.When I walked into the chapel, about 3 minutes before Stake Conference started, there was a video going of pictures from ground zero and a talk was going in the background. It was a general conference talk given by Jeffrey R Holland. I love his talks, they are so full of hope, truth and fulfillment. He reminds us that there is always hope in the gospel of Jesus Christ.
I hope we never forget how that day, as tragedy struck, our country came together and was united as one, to lift up those that lost loved ones. May we never forget.

The next day after Yellowstone, we visited 2 pioneer historical sites.
The first was called 6th Crossing. It was where the Willie Handcart company was rescued by the rescue party sent out by Brigham Young. There were 2 handcart companies that were stranded. The Willie and the Martin handcart companies. They were several miles apart from each other and both in situations that were dire. The reason why they were stuck in the bad weather was because they left Iowa too late in the season. They just wanted to get to Salt Lake. A place where they knew they could be safe from the persecutions that were so prominent in that time and be able to live their life in peace.

You could try your hand at pulling a handcart around the area to see what it must have been like and let me tell ya, it was not easy! I really can't imagine pulling it for thousands of miles.

When you visit these sites, there is a feeling present there still, after all these years have passed. It was the winter of 1856 when they were found stranded and in much need of help. They were out of food and supplies and could go no further having been caught in a terrible snow storm. The feeling that is there is a very humbling feeling.. I had recently seen the movie 17 Miracles and was moved by what the 2 handcart companies went through. But to go there, where they had been, was something I'll never forget.

This was the trail the Willie Co. had to cross to continue on their journey towards Salt Lake after they were met by the rescuers with the supplies. Imagine trying to pull a handcart up this lovely rocky trail.

After spending some time at the Sweetwater Crossing, we traveled several miles up the road, in our comfortable van, and stopped at the Martin's Cove.

Martin's Cove is where the Martin Handcart Company were found stranded by the rescue party after they had given supplies to the Wille Company and told to go help the Martin Company. At first, they were stranded at Devil's Gate. But there were too many of them, so they had to walk to a different part of the area so everyone could fit and find shelter from the storm.


Named by the Indians, Devil's gate is where the Martin Co stopped nearby first and then with the assistance of the rescuers, the Martin Company took refuge in a sheltered pocket on the south side of the Sweetwater Mountains, now known as Martin’s Cove.

To the right of Chase is where the Martin Co took refuge for 5 days from the storm until they could begin their journey again to Salt Lake.

Here's part of the trail you walk on to get to Martin's Cove. It's about a 2 mile hike. It wasn't very easy to hike in the Wyoming wind. It was very hot and windy and we were hungry but had plenty of water. I just kept thinking the whole time we were walking the trail how hard it must of been for the pioneers because at this point, alot of them didn't have shoes left for their feet, they were still pulling handcarts, it was snowing and already there was a ton of snow on the ground, and they had to cross the Sweetwater River yet again so their clothes were wet. It was below zero plus with the windchill, it must have been unbearable.


Eric and Chase walking along the trail, to the left of them is Martin's Cove.


This was when we were more than half way done with the hike. Allie's not too happy at this point. The heat and wind were getting to her, but I really hope she remembers this experience throughout her life, that she got to walk where the pioneers walked. After about this point on, we had alot of fun walking back to the beginning of the trail. It's like a big 2 mile loop. We laughed at a bopping Chase on Eric's shoulders as they ran the rest of the way down the trail. We kept our eyes out for rattlesnakes, because their holes were everywhere. We dodged Elk poop around every bend, and we were happy to get to the end!

When we finished the trail, the missionaries told us they were sorry because they had forgotten to tell us that Eric and I could have had the opportunity to pull Allie and Chase in a handcart on the 2 mile loop. I will always be glad they forgot to tell us because it was hard enough just walking on it!! Yipe!


The missionaries told us this marker was put in next to the bridge that we were currently crossing over when i snapped this picture. When the bridge was built, I think in the early 1990's but i'm not 100% sure, it was so that no one would ever have to cross the Sweetwater River again. When the Martin Co was told they would have to cross it again to seek shelter in the cove, many of them dropped to their knees at the thought of having to go through that ice cold water again, with all their belongings. They couldn't fathom doing it once again. At that moment, 5 men spoke up and volunteered to carry everyone that couldn't make it across. They crossed that river back and forth, all day long, in the bitter cold to get everyone safely across. They were heroes to so many that day.

We left Martin's Cove that evening feeling very fulfilled by what we had just experienced and will never forget it.
That night we drove to Casper Wy and stayed the night. The next day, we arrived in the Black Hills of SD, which is where I fell in love with small town living. More on that tomorrow...

Yippie for Yellowstone!

2011-09-11T22:11:00.000-07:00

So after leaving Bear World, we made our way to the wonderful Yellowstone.
Eric and Allie and been there 2 years prior, but Chaser and I hadn't. So i was very excited to see it. Talk about Beautiful. There was SO much to see and we only gave ourselves 1 day, which, if anyone who's ever been there knows, 1 day is NOT ENOUGH. But since we wanted to visit the Mormon Handcart sites, we could only spend one day in Yellowstone. But don't cry for me, because we're going back next year.

Now, here's the age old question: Did we see Old Faithful???
The answer is: no

Okay, you can cry if you want. But here's why, in one word that we chose to skip it.
CHASE.
The thing about autism is, they "don't like to wait". Which in turn, makes everyone else around them "not like to wait" With Old Faithful, there's no guarantee wait time, which means a grumpy Chase. Also, it was summer vacation, so we knew the place would be packed, and crowds and Chase make Chase grumpy. I didn't want to get grumpy, I knew Eric didn't want to get grumpy, and Allie, well, she's almost 9 which means, she's often grumpy anyway, so we decided to skip good ol' faithful this year.
We are constantly working on Chase's ability to "wait" so we're hoping that next year, Chase will be able to wait amongst the crowds to see good ol' faithful do it's thang. Because Allie had already seen it in the past, I didn't feel bad about skipping it.
One of my fav things we saw was the waterfall. We hiked down to the edge of the waterfall and beheld it's beauty. Now, the hike back up the trail left something to be desired. It was a tad bit tough, but not because I'm outta shape, no no no, it was, um, because the air is thinner in Yellowstone, yeah, yeah, that's it...it's thinner air than they got here in viva las vegas. I just breath better, I guess, in thicker, more polluted air I think..yeah, that's it. That makes sense, right?

Lower Falls

Some handsome dude

One adorable 8 yr old


The sound of the waterfall freaked Chaser out a bit, he plugged his ears the whole time we were there, but for the pic, we held his hands down. So mean!

Another view


This is how Chase got to go down and back up the trail...lucky duck.

We also took a little hike and saw the Artists Paint Pots.
It was a totally cool place where the ground is super hot and everything liquid boils and sometimes spews itself into the air. It reminded me of 'the bog of eternal stench' from the movie The Labyrinth. Only, it really didn't smell too much...t-h-a-n-k-f-u-l-l-y.

Ok, so this part isn't the 'prettiest' part of Yellowstone, per say, but it was still pretty darn cool to see all the action that goes on there all the time. Check out the steam...now that's hot!

You were warned with warning signs all along the trail to stay on the trail because the ground was so hot around it. So its safe to say we didn't see much wildlife in these here parts.


Aw (: nothing says love like taking a pic next to some scary hot bubbling clay pools that spewed hot clay from the ground. sigh

Want a better, more scientific, less nerdy than my explanation of the Artists Paint Pots area of Yellowstone, click here. It's really a cool thing, you should read about it, check it out!

I wanna end this post with a few more pics of the beauty that is Yellowstone. Some of these pics, i took and some Allie took. She does pretty good for an 8 yr old, or as she always makes me say, "8 almost 9 yr old".

Looks like I could get in some good fly fishing here...if I ever fly fished, which I never have done in my life, but would like to sometime, because this looks like a perfect spot, like in that Brad Pitt movie a River Runs Through It.

Flower picked for me...aw ;)

Thug Chase with my visor on. Allie took this pic while driving out of Yellowstone. He was pretty much done for the day.

Until we meet again dear Yellowstone....next summer, (for more than just one day unlike this summer), when we decide to take on 'Chase vs Old Faithful.' Who will be conqueror? Chase, always Chase.

P.S. If you've never been to Yellowstone, to thee I say "Go GO GO! (But be sure to stop at Bear World on your way there if you're coming from Idaho because it was so cool to see the bears and you may or may not be able to see a bear in Yellowstone...just some cool buffalo or a grumpy bison and maybe an elk or 2)

Bear World

2011-09-07T13:55:00.000-07:00

After Salt Lake, we stayed the night in Idaho Falls so we could drive to Yellowstone the next day. On our way to Yellowstone we stopped at a place called Bear World. It was very cool. You could drive thru this park that had bears that just walked around, right next to your car! Of course i had to make sure over and over that the windows were locked because i had this crazy fear Chase would roll down his window when a bear came up to the van. Call me crazy but i wouldn't put it past him! Austim=no fear when it comes to stuff like BEARS. At Bear World, they also had this cool "all white" elk and a mama deer with her bambinos...i love when they still have their spots! So.dang.cute. I'm such a city girl.

(This one apparently had alot to say)

I died when I saw this....so.darned.cute.

I really could have done without the wolves. Yipe! They're more scary to me than a bear!

See how close they got to our van? See Eric's neck? What a cute neck it is!

Allie standing next to the cute fuzzy baby bears they had next door. You could pay 50 more dollars to sit on top of a bus and drop food down to the bears that would get on their hind legs using the bus for leverage, but we opted not to do that. You also weren't allowed to come to a complete stop while driving thru the park because the bears will climb on top of your vehicle. And of course when we're driving thru the park, the bus that is full of bear feeder people on top comes to a complete stop to feed the bears and there was no going around them...but whatchagonnado? Luckily, the bear in front of us was more interested in the Christian church bus full of kids that was stuck behind the 'bear feeding bus' so the bear focused his attention there. I'd rather not have a bear clawing at my new van....I know, dumb reason right?
Stay tuned tomorrow with baited breath for Yellowstone...okay, i guess you can breathe...

1st Stop; Salt Lake City baby

2011-09-06T06:54:00.000-07:00

Well, i was supposed to do this post the next day, but oops! When kids get sick after school only being back in session after one week, that kinda trumps everything else. Can we go back to summer vacation please??? No?? okay....So with the kitchen done, tiled and painted, (oh, and we added knobs to all the cabinets and bead board underneath the breakfast bar but those pics will have to come later) we were ready for our vacation...so off we went!
Our ultimate goal this family vacation was to visit the Mormon handcart church history sites of the Willie and Martin Handcart Co's rescue spots and then up to Mt Rushmore.
Our first day, we drove up to Salt Lake City and stayed in the wonderful Salt Lake Plaza hotel. It's an older hotel but it was VERY nice and right across the street from temple square, which is just where we wanted to be! It had been years since I'd been to temple square so we spent a day there and then headed up to Idaho Falls that evening but not before having a bit of fun in the sun. See, you can't have fun in the sun in Las Vegas, unless you're submerged in water, or you will pass out and possibly die from heat stroke. So to be able to walk around, outside, in August, was superb! I know I know, winters get cold in Utah, but to have summers like that? Heaven!!

This was all our luggage..can you tell we're in the military?

My angels!

Our wonderful Hotel!

Chaser and I in front of the Conference Center before we toured it

On the roof of the Conference Center, if you havne't been up there, GO. Its cool!

David O McKay is in this pic, can you see him?

On the roof of the Conference Center...again

I don't know..I just don't know

On our horse drawn carriage ride thru the streets of Salt Lake. So fun to ride on it and make a quick pit stop at Maverick's!

Giving the driver the love he deserves....

Inside the church history museum. ------>

The WHOLE stain glass window

The page on the left is an actual page saved from when Joseph Smith and his transcriber were translating the Book of Mormon. SO cool!

Allie pulling a handcart like the early saint Mormon pioneers. It's about time she pull her own weight around here! haha

Death masks of the prophet Joseph and his brother Hyrum.

My loves, enjoying running on the grass, because when you live in Las Vegas, you don't get grass, really, especially in your front yard, it's illegal. Any house built after 2005 can't have grass. Sad but true. Why do we live there again? haha

My eternal Family, I love these foo's!

New Tile Backsplash anyone?? Don't mind if i do!

2011-08-31T14:38:00.000-07:00

So Eric got home from Afghanistan on July 6th and before we left on our vacation, we got right to work on projects at home. We put in a glass tile backplash that turned out so loverly! I LOVE it. But it wasn't easy. The directions said you could do it in one day or so, it took us 5. But it was sooo worth it!

Here's a before pic: We were at first trying different blue's and were origianlly going to stensil a design on the wall for the backsplash but we didn't like how it turned out, so....

We painted above the cabinets yellow, the same yellow I painted the dining room. It looks pretty subtle in this pic, but it's better in person.

Allie LOVES to help us paint!Good thing we do alot of it....

And....viola!!!

We love how it turned out. But I think next time we want to do something like this again, I'll ask my brother or dad for help because they both are tile setters and would be able to do it alot faster!

Stay tuned tomorrow for the first segment of our "super road trip to Mt Rushmore and other really cool sites family vacation" pics! I know you'll be waiting with baited breath...right? No? Oh...

I've been away...

2011-08-25T21:09:00.000-07:00

Dear Blog:I'm sorry I've been neglecting you so long :( Since Eric came home from Afghanistan, we've just been busy with projects at home and our family summer vacation. (Which I'm still on by the way, and which is going fabulous, so fabulous in fact that I dont' wanna go home!!!)
But when we do finally arrive at home, I've got some great pics to show you and stories to tell of our adventures!!!! So hang tight, and don't be mad okay? Gotta go, Chase is being a crazy person right now. I sure love that little boy, and btw again, he's handled this vacation and all the driving (it was a road trip after all) like a champ, a champ I tell ya!!!

Eric's home, it's about flippin time !

2011-07-20T23:45:00.000-07:00

(Allie with her grandpa (Eric's pappy) and holding up the sign she made for her dad to see when he walked off the plane

( Me and Eric's ma, and Chase's legs behind the banner)

(Finally home)

LOVE this pic

Check out the guy taking a pic of us!

Eric came home from Afghanistan on July13th. He was gone about 7 months. We survived!!! And we're happy he's home!

We weren't sure what Chase's reaction would be, but right away when he saw his dad, he starting laughing really hard and had no reservations about it. Of course Allie was ecstatic and loves having her dad home.

Thankfully we got to go to the terminal and see him walk off the jetway. The dude at the ticket counter downstairs at the check-in counter tried to give me grief about wanting ALL of us to get special passes that allowed us up to the gates, but after a while, he simmered down and gave us all passes...whew! Of course it helped that I wouldn't take "no" for an answer :)

After Eric walked off the plane, everyone that was sitting in the terminal stood up and clapped. It was very touching! A guy came over and shook Eric's hand and thanked him for his service. The lady at the counter was wiping her eyes and a man told his son as they were walking off the plane before Eric walked out that he wanted to stop and witness this.

It was all very exciting. Whenever Eric has come home from a deployment in the past, he's always flown onto the base, so it was a very different experience having him fly into an international airport and see the reaction from other people. It was awesome.

We're soooo glad he's home!

I missed my Airman :)

Chase and the Kindergarten Graduation

2011-06-17T05:52:00.000-07:00

Chaser graduated from Kindergarten last Thursday.

Here he is walking the green mile to his seat for the program.

Most kids loved the attention and experience. Chase...well...by the look on his face, I"m not so sure! :) His teacher said they practiced alot, so he knew what he was doing, but he sure didn't know why! I love that they gave him the opportunity to participate in it. He LOVED going to Kindergarten. He would ask his autism teacher all day if he could go to Kindergarten. He would say to her: "Let's go to Kindergarten!" The kids in both the morning and afternoon classes were so good to Chase. They always said Hello and tried to get him involved in things. I know kids won't always be that nice to Chase as he gets older and moves up the grades, but for now, kids are so sweet! And any child who bullies him later on in school will have to answer to me, and they do not want that experience I tell you what!!! Because I will unleash the mama bear and she's Irish! Anyway, I digress, so, he would attend Kindergarten twice a day for a half an hour, and then go back to his autism classroom. I am so thankful the Kindergarten teacher was so willing and open to have Chase in there. Thank you Mrs. Messerli (pictured with Chase)

(Who's kid cries when he's handed his graduation diploma?? Mine! See...Chase knows that it's good to be unique and different, and the boy isn't afraid to show it! :)

(Here he is with one of the teacher assistants, Ms Kathleen, who is totally awesome! She always insisted on Chase saying "Hello Ms Kathleen" to her every morning. I know that was instrumental in Chase being able to finally say Hello to everyone and saying their name after the Hello! (most of the time, if he knows your name :)

(He's done with wearing the grad hat)

Chase with his teacher Ms Holli. Don't let Chase's expression fool you. He truly does LOVE his autism teacher. He was just plum darn sick and tired of me takin pics..what's with the gang sign he's throwin though anyways....She is THE BEST teacher in the world and has made Chase progress leaps and bounds this year. SHE potty trained Chase, not me. There's no way in the world I could thank her enough for that. Do you know how long I worried about how to potty train him? How do you potty train a child who has autism, was 5 years old, showed NO INTEREST in it and didn't mind wearing pull ups all day, and was non-verbal to boot?
This year, Chase has learned to talk, ask for things, perform simple tasks, and use the potty!
Halleluiah, life just got a little bit, nay, a lot easier!
Now, if I could just have my hubs back home safe and sound....
Next month!!!

They say it's your birthday..nah nah nah nah

2011-06-06T21:38:00.000-07:00

Chase had a birthday.
I tell him every year to stop growing up and getting older, but he doesn't listen! Why don't these kids listen to their mama?!
This birthday was the first b-day that Chase actually blew out a candle and opened a present. Past years he wouldn't go near a flame, even on a candle. He would just get a panicked look and plug his ears, and as far as opening presents, no interest at all. But this year was different! Well, there was a little bit of ear plugging, but hey....still progress from last year!

He actually wanted to blow out his candle and he opened the presents without a lot of coaxing.
It's hard that Eric has to miss holidays and birthdays, and it's really too bad he didn't marry a better picture taker! But, as the french say.....C'est la vie!! :)

(Chase listening to his dad sing Happy Birthday to him..and after it was done, Chase softly said "Wa-hoo"
it-was-so-cute, I Loved it! I died!)

(Guess the Chaser was gettin a little tired of the camera!)

Yep, that's Chase in his underwear. That's how this kid rolls. Who needs pants when you're 6...or 36 for that matter!?!
This kid never ceases to amaze me with what he can do, and how he progresses towards recovery from his autism.
When I told Chase Happy Birthday when he woke up and came downstairs, he looked at me like I'd just asked him to go shave the cat.
Maybe next year he'll understand a little more what it means to have a birthday. Everytime I told him "Chase...Happy Birthday", he'd reply with a Happy Birthday back. I wish I could see into his mind and find out what he's thinking. That would sure be magnificent!

Now I can say....

2011-06-05T22:32:00.000-07:00

May is over. It was a busy and fun month except for the stomach flu that tried to weasel it's way in, but I made it weasel it's way out!

Now that May is gone, I can officially say Eric comes home "next" month! I love that I can finally say that! And then when July comes, I will be able to say...yep, you guessed it, Eric comes home this month! Of course i don't know the exact day, because anybody who knows the military knows that the date of his coming home will change 2.98749930 gazillion times.

May's Happenings, told in pictures if you please:
Chase wrote his first sentence (see last month's post)

Some of my really good friends moved away :( But one of them just moved over to the 'west side' so that's good!

(The day Lisa moved)

Lots of friend's b-day lunches in May!

Lindsay had a b-day at Cafe Rio=yum!

(B-day lunch at Chipotle for Melinda!)

Allie went on her first motorcycle ride with our friend John. She loved it!

(I love Chase, standing in the background, plugging his ears of course!)

Memorial Day bbq at the in-laws
(Really Chase, you had to sit like that?? And Allie...with her crazy eyes and smile...we're a good looking group I'd say!)

(Chase and his morning milkshake...I feed my kids sooo well, wearin a sweet hat, and Allie looking at the Walmart catalog for a killer slip n slide for Memorial Day festivities)

4 more days of school left
5 weeks till Eric comes home!
In which I will regain my sanity and hopefully my desire to cook...for when Eric is deployed, the kitchen's closed!

Inconceivable!

2011-05-26T18:22:00.000-07:00

I can never hear or think of that word without thinking of Vizzini, the bald Sicilian with a lisp on the movie Princess Bride. And then that leads me to think about Indigo Montoya saying to Vizzini "You keep using that word. I do not think it means what you think it means. " and then the second you hear the name Inigo Montoya, you can't help but remember the line "HELLO. My name is Inigo Montoya, you killed my father, prepare to die".
But I digress. I haven't been blogging much since Eric's been deployed, which is when I should be blogging more since he's gone and he'll wanna see pics and hear stories about his offspring, but because he's gone, I don't have time to blog. It's a vicious cycle people, vicious.

When you're almost 9 yr old asks you if you still blog, that means the time to blog is due, past due really.

There's really not much to blog about EXCEPT for the coolest thing that happened.
Chase wrote his first sentence! I'm talking, a real sentence, not a traced one! When things like that happen, all the time, energy, money and therapy that's put into that blond haired, blue eyed gem is SO worth it! All of that would be worth it regardless of course, but it's so much more rewarding, regardless :) Now I'm like Vizzini using the same word too much, but without a lisp. And I know what it means in case Inigo Montoya asks me.

Here's the first one:

This first one shows Chase tracing the sentence, practicing it. So cute.

This second one is him writing the sentence all on his own...no tracing!

Then this last one is just darn cute with his crazy blue handprint and 'un'traced sentence.
I just love these. It gives me so much hope for him in 1st grade. I know things will get harder next school year but seeing these accomplishments makes me so happy and hopeful!

P.S. Today was Memorial Day and I'm so glad and grateful I was able to spend it with family, especially since my hubs is away in Afghanistan. Thank you to all who have served and are serving our great country today. We are free and happy because of you!

I'm not sure who said this but I like it:
"From the bitter cold winter at Valley Forge, to the mountains of Afghanistan and the deserts of Iraq, our soldiers have courageously answered when called, gone where ordered, and defended our nation with honor."

Mother's Day 2011, say what??

2011-05-09T21:28:00.000-07:00

Mother's Day 2007

Mother's Day 2011

So blogger.com had some technical difficulties and any blog posts that were made after Wed got deleted! They said they would restore them all, but I have a feelin it just ain't gonna happen. It kept the pics from my Wednesday blog post, but not anything I'd written. It's hard to remember all that I wrote but I do remember telling about something that happened with Chase.
I was pumping gas on Saturday night (day before Mother's Day) and Chase rolled down his window so I turned around to face him and before I could say anything he said "Hi Mom!"
Immediately Allie and I both said to each other.."DID YOU HEAR THAT?? CHASE SAID HI!"

Ok, you may be thinking, "whoopdeedo and big deal, you're kid said Hi to you". But it was a big deal, because it was the first time my son, who will turn 6 yrs old next month, has ever said hello to me.
For years now, we say Hi to Chase and then have to prompt him to say hi back, and what he always says is "Hi Chase" because that's what he just heard you say. So then we would say, "No Chase, say Hi (insert name here) and then he would repeat what he was told to repeat. I always cringe a bit when people say hello to him in the grocery store or somewhere like that because I feel like I have to explain why he flat out ignores them, as they stand there waiting for a hello back. Chase isn't being a bratty child, he just doesn't say Hi back because he doesn't understand/comprehend that it's the socially acceptable thing to do!
I just can't express how when he said hi to me. It is so profoundly rewarding to see years of working with Chase on something finally click. The thing I love about having a child with autism, is that when they learn something new, no matter how small, the joy you feel is beyond describable, because you know it's a step closer to them being able to live and function in a "normal" world. Every little thing they accomplish is HUGE, and the pride you feel as their parent is HUGE because these things do not come easily or naturally for them in most cases.
Do you know how amazing it was to have Chase walk through the door on Monday after school and have him come right up to me and say "Hi Mom"
Or the next day when i walked into a room, and I wasn't ignored by him when I said Hello, but was greeted with a smile and a hello back? Do you have an almost 6 year old child? Have you had to wait for all that time to engage with them like this? Because I have, and it was hard waiting. Everything is baby steps with autism, and teaching Chase to say Hello was another baby step that I will appreciate for as long as I live. As a parent, you want more than anything to engage with your child, to have them understand and know how much you love them.
When it comes to your children, never take the baby steps for granted, because it's those small steps that lead them to greatness.

I survived Spring Break 2011!!!

2011-04-28T11:03:00.000-07:00

I survived Spring Break 2011, and so did my children.

Oh the fun we had! Oh how broke we are now!
But it was worth it.
We did something fun every day of the week.
Sometimes I wonder if all the 'fun' is just torture to Chase, because for most of the time, he's plugging his ears, but he still smiles and laughs so i guess it's not all bad, i hope!
Monday: We went to the zoo. I know I know, you're probably saying "Las Vegas has a zoo??" or maybe you're not saying that, but they do. And it's small and smelly and usually the animals look sad and are most likely designing an escape plan, but it wasn't too hot or windy the day we went so it was survivable! The kids are still young enough where even a sad zoo is a fun zoo!
Times I lost Chase at the zoo: 2

(Doesn't a peacock show it's feathers when it feels threatened?? Well, if you had a Chase coming after you with grabby hands, you might feel this way too.)

(What Chase did most of the time at the zoo. We wonder why that is his preferred method of covering his ears...it looks like it hurts!)

My camera died after we left the goat feeding area, but besides this otter and some bare butt baboons, that's about all there was to see!

Tuesday: We went to the Leid's Children's Discovery Museum. Awesome place to visit if you come to Vegas with your kiddos.
Times I lost Chase at the Discovery Museum: 1 (Where was he? In the men's bathroom wearing no shoes and flushing the urinal over and over of course!)

(Allie and me, I, whatever, with my Willy Wonka sunglasses)

We did alot more fun stuff at the children's museum, but my camera battery died, again!

Wednsday: Natural History Museum was graced with our presence. Another really cool place for kids to go visit.
Times I lost Chase: 2
Where did i find him? In the women's bathroom flushing the toilets of course. Wonder how easy it is to lose Chase? Well, babysit him for a day, take him to a public place, and then memorize where all the bathrooms are and you'll know. Plus, he's as quiet as a mouse and always wants to walk behind you. I think it's so he can make his great escape.

(Allie and her BFF Emily petting the bears)

(I'm not the world's best picture taker but in this tank was some kind of shark and those things that look like they flap their wings when they swim. Chase loved watching the fish and kept trying to climb in the tank. There were tons of missionaries there that day!)

(Allie finding Nemo)

Thursday: Adventuredome inside the Circus Circus. By this point, i was less than excited to take pics, even though previous pics could possibly be considered great works of art...
Times I lost Chase: 1--he never knew where the bathroom's were until right before we left, but he saw the ferris wheel and decided to go to it before i was ready, but rest assured, he didn't get far!

(Allie and her friend on the pirate ship ride)

I honestly can't remember what we did on Friday, but I know we did something...but by this point I was tired and mostly broke.

(We didn't forget to dye Easter eggs though!)

(You are witnessing the 5.7 seconds that Chase was interested in the whole situation, but at least he tried!)

It was bitter sweet when Monday came and the kids went back to school. It was nice to do so many fun things together and we had a wonderful Easter Day at church and with our family. What would have made it even better would have been if Eric was here! But there is a light at the end of the tunnel finally! Still small but getting larger everyday passing day!

To Eric:
Look at our beautiful babies on Easter Sunday!! :)

We miss you and can't wait for you to come home! Afghanistan's had you long enough...wink wink. See you in 2.5 months!

Happy Easter--Remember the reason for the season

2011-04-24T07:58:00.001-07:00

“In our hour of deepest sorrow, we can receive profound peace from the words of the angel that first Easter morning: ‘He is not here: for he is risen.’" Thomas S. Monson

Warning: I drive like a Cullen

2011-04-12T13:06:00.001-07:00

Lemmie tell ya about the $195.00 dollar breakfast burrito....but first, I'll back up for a sec.
When we moved back to the US after living on Japan for 4 years, i kinda-sorta didn't stop driving like they do in Japan...at least not right away.
I got pulled over 4 times in less than a year that first year we were back.
2 times for speeding (1 totally wasn't my fault)
1 time for rolling thru a stop sign on base (totally lame, it's better on gas if you don't come to a complete stop anyway)
and i can't remember what the 4th one was for.

Understandably after that year of getting so many tickets, i slowed the heck down, came to complete stops and didn't speed up thru yellow lights just to be safe.

Yesterday, I, for some reason and without a good explanation, really wanted a breakfast burrito from MickeyD's. As we all learned from the movie Big Daddy, McDonalds stops serving breakfast at 10:30am. ("Could somebody get the kid a Happy Meal??!!!!")
It was 10:23 when i got into my new sweet van, left my house and while driving, I happened to look down at how fast I was going when i was about half way there, and saw that i was speeding. I don't speed. I drive grandma-ish. That's what happens when you get pulled over 4 times in a year.
I also went thru a yellow light that morning. I was almost there when out of no where, a motorcycle cop appears out of thin air behind me, sirens a blazin and lights a flashing.
So i pulled over like a good citizen, and took off my seat belt.
When we came up to the window i said 'I JUST took off my seatbelt but i swear i was wearing one'. He said "I know, it's okay, and just so you know, I pulled you over for speeding....not for the yellow light you sped up to go through".
Um, thanks?
So after 10 min of not being able to find my driver's license thanks to the new fancy wallet i got, i finally found it, (the cop actually saw it first before I did in my wallet) he wrote the ticket and walked away. As I'm putting everything back in my wallet after throwing it all around trying to find my DL, the cop walks back to me and says "I've been seeing those stickers everywhere!! What does it mean...."Warning, I Drive Like a Cullen"
The dude had never seen Twilight!!! Could you die???
I told him that in the story, the vamps drive really fast Volvo's and they don't obey traffic laws.
I proved that to be true for myself that day....except that I drive a Honda Odyssey instead of a very expensive Volvo...someday...someday.

To make a long story short, (too late for that) i made it to McD after 10:30am, they still made me a breakfast burrito anyway, and i found out about a place that can get my ticket down to 35 dollars with no traffic school required. Gotta love Vegas and its perks!

I feel it's quite sad that this is all I have to blog about lately.
But in my defense, I'm a single mama right now, and venturing out on too many excursions without my hubby accompanied by The Chaser is still a bit daunting.
Chase is getting easier but remember my last post? You try taking a pretty tall, almost 6 year old autistic child out in public by yourself and see how ....no i won't finish that sentence because for one thing, it sounds mean, and i don't mean it to! It's just not my idea of a good time standing in Smith's grocery store, trying to buy turtle pie, while your son is screaming and crying because you wouldn't indulge him by taking him to the bathroom just so he could flush the toilets. Chase was screaming so loud that when he walked by this guy standing in line for the bank, the man literally jumped out of the way, literally. It was awesome....no, it really was funny. It made me smile and I am just grateful that Chase will follow me around a store now, even if he's blind with fury at me. In the past if he got mad, he would drop to the ground and stay there f-o-r-e-v-e-r.
Oh Hallelujah not anymore!!
I miss my hubby. I feel incomplete without him. He's finally hit the half way point of his deployment and there is a faint, tiny, idee biddee light at the end of the tunnel now...yeah!
I can't wait for him to come home. He is my rock and my soft place to fall all at the same time.
Spring Break is next week. Having to endure Spring Break alone with your children when you're hubs is away in Afghanistan is a sick sick joke! A week of having the children home, all day, without Eric, has made me vow to venture out everyday to one place of entertainment. Thank goodness we live in Vegas and won't run out of things to do but I'm just hoping that it doesn't do me in. It just might! But if I just chose to stay in the house all week because I fear a major public meltdown from Chase, I would most likely go crazy, and take you all with me.
You think I kid!!!

Chase and the Target bathroom

2011-03-21T21:22:00.000-07:00

I kept Chaser home from school last Monday because he had a fever and a cough, and most likely a sore throat because everytime he coughed, he grabbed his throat.
Poor dude!
But I wasn't expecting to have him home and had to get some errands done anyway. He was sick, but not too sick for a trip to Target...who is???

Anyway, one second the little man is standing right next to me trying on sunglasses with bling, the next minute, gone, poof, vanished. He's a Houdini I tell you!

The problem with losing your autistic child in the store is that you can call out their name all ya want, it don't mean beans.
So I walked around for about 5 minutes listening for his humming, and he was no where to be found. I was pretty certain he wouldn't walk outta the store, and since I couldn't find him, I asked for help.
The employee I asked got on her walkie talkie and said they had a "code yellow", and a guy said through the intercom.."What's the child look like?" So I told her "blond hair and blue eyes, but he's not going to respond if you call out his name though", so she told him what he looked like and he said "oh yeah, he was over here in the dressing rooms" So we go over there, and he's not there now of course! Then someone else got on and said "I saw him at the sunglasses"....uh, yeah, for like 2 seconds and 5 minutes ago" Then another voice came on that said..."what's he wearing?? I think he's in the bathroom!!" Sure enough (and I shoulda known) Chase was in the women's bathroom flushing the toilets over and over, a favorite past time of his. He loves to flush the toilet, and then quickly plug his ears. I was relieved to find him, and to my pleasant surprise, he actually looked a little scared! My Chase?? Scared?? I hardly know the likes of that! This coming from a little boy who has no stranger danger whatsoever. It made me happy to see that reaction when I found him!
Now if we could just get him to stop running around the neighborhood trying to open all the car doors that are parked on the street to see if they're unlocked! Wouldn't it be strange to get in your car and find a blond haired, blue eyed child staring at you when you get in? I really need to make up fliers or knock on everyone's doors and let them know they really should lock their car doors! And keep their garages closed!
Never a dull moment with a Chase around!
I love that sweet blond haired, blue eyed angel ;)

Pump It Up

2011-03-08T07:30:00.000-08:00

See the kid at the bottom trying to escape the picture??
Yep, that's Chase, never wanting to sit still for a picture, but this was the best birthday party he and I have ever been to.

Do you know what it's like to take a child with autism to a "typical" child's b-day party??
It's not fun. Since all the other kids there are "normal"...Chase looks extremely abnormal.
But when you go to a b-day party for a fellow classmate who has autism, there's nothing abnormal about it.
It was like a breath of fresh air, being at that b-day party. Chase wasn't the only one who chose to stay on only one blowup slide the whole 2 hours when you're in a room with more than one. I honestly feel like I can't find the words to adequately describe how it felt....in a way, it was surreal, to be in a room with upwards of 25 autistic kids having the time of their lives, without being laughed at, or feeling left out.
No one really "played" with anyone else per say, but they did take turns, cooperate and enjoy themselves to the 100 degree. Everyone embraced who everyone was.

I grabbed on for dear life to that feeling of pure acceptance and escape from the reality of my child who has to live everyday in a non-autistic world. Nothing Chase did that night, or any other child that was there for that matter, was unusual or strange. For the first time in a long time, I didn't have to worry about looks I got from other parents if my child was doing something strange, like"stimming".

I found this on a website (can't remember where) that describes stimming in a great way.
"The term "stimming" is short for self-stimulatory behavior, sometimes also called "stereotypic" behavior. In a person with autism, stimming usually refers to specific behaviors such as flapping their hands, rocking, spinning, or repetition of words or phrases.

Stimming is almost always a symptom of autism, but it's important to note that stimming is also a part of most people's behavior patterns. If you've ever tapped your pencil, bitten your nails, twirled your hair, or paced, you've engaged in stimming.
The biggest differences between autistic and typical stimming are the choice of stim and the quantity of stim. While it's at least moderately acceptable to bite one's nails, for example, it's considered unacceptable to wander around flapping one's hands. There's really no good reason why flapping should be less acceptable than nail biting (it's certainly more hygienic!). But in our world, the hand flappers receive negative attention while the nail biters are tolerated."

I try to stop Chase from stimming if I see it start, but sometimes I don't notice him doing it because I'm so used to it. Chase is a hand flapper, ( I wonder how he hasn't flown away yet)and a jumper. He likes to jump all the time, whether on a trampoline or not. I wish I knew where he gets his energy! But doesn't all parents wonder that of their young children?!!

Thrift Store Finds...

2011-03-02T09:12:00.000-08:00

Found this beauty at Good Will for $1.99 a couple of weeks ago while out thrifting.

At first I had only picked up this, i saw such potential! Then i went back the next morning, after dropping the kids off at school in my PJ's and ran into GW to see if it's cousin was still there!
And it was!! My lucky day!
So I immediately grabbed my favorite Krylon glossy black spray paint and went to work...
What a difference a couple of coats of black spray paint can make!
I love how they turned out!
Right now they're sitting on my entry way table/chest of drawers/shoe holder/blanket holder (not in the same drawer though....ew!) It's a big table..

Not sure if they're gonna stay there but I love how they turned out!

It's the hub's b-day!

2011-02-23T13:15:00.000-08:00

Today is my hub's birthday...and wouldn't ya know it, lucky him gets to spend it in Afghanistan. What a way to celebrate a birthday...being surrounded by sand, wind, mud and lots and lots of swearing. But never fear....he's got many care packages awaiting for him to open and enjoy the contents of, one of which is an e-reader. I got it at Borders and bought the insurance on it, which i never do, (especially when buying something at Best Buy,) but when the lady said "Honey, a camel could spit on this, and we'd still replace it for free" (in a southern accent).....I was sold.

I'm not sure if there's many camels in Afghanistan, but I figure if they'll replace it due to camel encounters, then they'd surely replace it, if say, something more realistic happened, like a tank drove over it, or it got stolen by insurgents...ya know, something realistic.

Happy Happy Birthday to my hubs of almost 10 years. Here's to a bazillion more...that's a real word you know.... and it means forever!
I lub you.

( That there is one handsome Airman :)

Wanna know??

2011-02-18T18:38:00.000-08:00

What Chase does when Allie and I aren't looking??

At least he chose blue for his fingernails!!!

Before it's too late...

2011-02-16T21:24:00.000-08:00

For Valentine's this year, i wanted to 'make' all the decorations that I would hang up. I've been seeing these crepe paper roses for a while and wanted to try my hand at making them...so i did! I can't remember the exact tutorial i watched on You Tube to learn, but there's tons so it wasn't hard to find one.
Everything i needed to make the wreathe i picked up at the Dollar Store...except my glue gun, i already had that.

Materials I used:
Elmers glue
crepe paper (red and pink)
wreath
glue gun and a lot of glue sticks

You start by cutting 24 in long strips of crepe paper

Then fold it over so it's not so wide...

Then you just start rolling it.

Keep twisting it as your wrapping it around itself and to finish it up, glue the end to the rose with the Elmers glue.

Then with your gluestick, glue the roses around the wreath

Tie some ribbon around it and hang it wherever!!!
The ribbon i used to hang it also came from the Dollar Store at Christmas time.

This was my table topper. The bowl came from Goodwill (3 dollars) and all the rest came from the Dollar Store. I spray painted the balls pink and red.
The letters behind the bowl spell HOME but i haven't decided where or what color I want those to be yet...any suggestions?? I'm really diggin orange and blue lately!

I hope everyone had a groovy V-day! I got beautiful flowers and yum chocolates delivered to me from my hubs all the way in Afghanistan. He's totally rocks!

It didn't take long for Chase's hand to find it's way into my chocolates!!!!

But that's okay, he filled in for my Valentine this year...

I sure love my kids and don't know what I'd do without them!

Christmas...and afterwards

2011-02-11T09:50:00.000-08:00

Ok, well, i was going to blog the pics I took at Christmas, but there weren't many, and I can't find them on the camera or the computer....so, it's like it never happened!

But I can say that Christmas was very mellow. Chaser was super super sick with a horrible respiratory virus, which he gets every year but usually before Christmas, more like Thanksgiving. But not this year, he was sick the whole week of Christmas. Eric had just come home from being in Wisconsin for 3 weeks of Army training and Chase got sick and I had a sinus infection and then Eric caught a cold. But in a week's time, we were all better. Allie was the only one that stayed healthy!

So Christmas day, we didn't grace anyone with our presence and just stayed in. Allie got an electric scooter from Santa, along with the rest of the kids in the neighborhood so she played outside all day (did i mention yet how much I love a Las Vegas winter) and then at night, for Christmas dinner, we picked up Papa John's pizza and went to the Drive-In theaters. It was alot of fun! We saw Gullivers Travels (love Jack Black) ate pizza, drank root beer, and just enjoyed snuggling together in our car on Christmas night. Chase was drugged up and asleep the whole time. So you know he was happy!
Next year my parents will be home from their mission in Australia, so we'll go up to Utah and have a White Christmas maybe??

For New Years, there are no pics because we just went to bed! I can't stay up past 10:30pm anymore these days, which is strange for me because I used to be such a night owl. I am now no longer a night owl but still not an early riser! What a conundrum!

A few days after New Years, Eric left for his deployment. It was so hard saying good-bye but it's part of the job and I'm happy he could be with us for the holidays! I'm so proud of him for going overseas and serving his country. He gets to be there with my brother which i think is awesome!

( A close up..probably a lot closer than you've ever wanted...btw, it was 5:30am at this point, remember, i'm no early riser.)

(About to go thru the check point and get our pass to be able to accompany Eric to the gates. Then we had a long time to wait before Eric boarded, but it didn't feel like a long time)

(Chase and his dad doing fishy face while waiting in the airport)

(Allie and Eric just hangin out)

(Eric with the kids)

Just about time to say good-bye:( I love Chase's gangsta look he has on his face.

Saying goodbye :(

(Chase had no clue what was going on)

If anyone knows me, they know I hate saying goodbye, it's so hard for me! So as me and the kids were walking away after Eric boarded the plane, Allie and I start crying. Chase is of course, none the wiser to anything that's going on. Sometimes I envy that! When we walked outside to go to the parking garage, we couldn't believe it was snowing!! It wasn't even cold! Watching the falling snow on our way home lifted our spirits and we carried on.

I know these pics don't really show the snow falling, it looks more like rain, but it was snowing...big flakes. When we were driving past the MGM and New York New York, you could hardly see them through the softly falling snow. It snowed the whole way home, and we loved every minute of it. But, we were happy it stopped when it did and didn't stick, because, well, I can still love me a Las Vegas winter.

Hello Major Tom...are you receiving??

2011-02-10T10:30:00.001-08:00

Okay, now that I got that song stuck in your head....4..3...2...1....earth below us...
Is there anyone out there still reading my blog? Am I reading my blog?
Yes!
I woke up this morning with a headache, a kink in my neck on the right side, and the awful reality that I dreamed about Justin Beiber (that's what happens when you see a commercial with him and Ozzy right before going to bed). I'd give anything to cut that kid's hair. And his songs, don't get me started on his songs because what does a 13 year old know about being deep in love!! And he certainly shouldn't be calling anybody "baby baby baby". You learn Justin Beiber songs when you are forced to go to the skating rink with your 8 year old for her school's fundraising skate party. Anyway, i digress:

So.....even with all those factors included in waking up this morning, i also woke up with a new sense of blogging desire. I guess this whole 'single mom' thing took a while to get used to and has been harder than i was hoping. I wasn't really too worried about Eric leaving because this isn't the first time he's deployed, it's the 4th time by golly! And we knew plenty of time before hand that Eric was going to be deploying for these 6 months, but the last time he 'vacationed in Iraq,' Chase was 1 and he was alot easier than he is now. We didn't have his diagnosis yet, and he wasn't even walking, so now that he's 5, walking of course, and a busy busy boy with school and therapies, life is a little more crazy than I'd have expected!
I feel like I've gone through the 7 stages of Grief in these last 6 weeks since Eric left for Afghanistan.

7 Stages of Grief...

1. SHOCK & DENIAL-

I kept telling myself not to dwell on the fact that he was going to be gone for half a year which in turn felt like i was floating on a cloud and not taking anything in. While it's good not to dwell on things, i also wasn't accepting the fact that I was going to be going at it alone for a while.

2. PAIN & GUILT-
I started waking up in the mornings forgetting he was gone and being reminded all over again that he was. Also, when Allie cried for her dad and Chase constantly taking me over to the computer wanting to talk to his dad, (i think Chase thinks Eric lives in the computer now because of Skype.)i felt guilty that there wasn't much i could do at the moment to make them feel better.

(The kids talking to Eric on Skype)

3. ANGER & BARGAINING-
I was angry that I had to juggle all of the responsibilities of our family alone. Angry that Eric wasn't here. Angry that the house was so messy, (not dirty) just messy . As Chase's behavior therapist puts it "Amber's house is a "No Germ Zone". What can i say...I love Clorox wipes and sprays containing bleach.

4. "DEPRESSION", REFLECTION, LONELINESS-
I started feeling sorry for myself that my husband was gone and I have to be the one to deal with all the therapies Chase requires and other problems needing attention. Also feeling jealous at church while I sit in class alone and all my friends have their husbands sitting next to them, helping them with their children at church.

5. THE UPWARD TURN-
Like my friend Cindy Davis (fellow Air force spouse, now retired)at church told me I would, i did finally find my niche and things are falling into place where they should. I finally feel like I'm in control again and getting new routines down, especially for the evenings to make bedtime go smoother and the house to stay tidier. I also came to my senses and stopped feeling sorry for myself! Sheesh! What a total dork i was being :)

6. RECONSTRUCTION & WORKING THROUGH-
I've been able to better adjust to being the sole care taker of the kids and home responsibilities. I never realized until now how much Eric does around the house for us! I won't take that for granted again! Thanks Babe for all you do!

7. ACCEPTANCE & HOPE-

And finally, i woke up this morning with a renewed sense of motivation and desire, ready to tackle the piles of mail, papers and home decor projects that have been waiting to happen. I've already tackled the piles of mail, i gave myself a deadline of this weekend to finally once and for all, pick the paint colors for the living room and kitchen, and I've finished up many thrift store re-do's that I've been working on...pics to come. Also, i gotta give a shout out to my ward at church. They are the best. They are so willing to help me out and are quickly learning that I do need help, but struggle with asking for it. Asking for help is one of the hardest things for me to do. I don't' know why! It just is! I wish it wasn't! But they listen to the Spirit and know when I need it and they come. I am forever thankful to them for that.

So, now that you know way more about me than you would have liked, and my headache's gone after a very large diet coke and 4 Advil, I'm ready to start blogging again! So watch out, or, at least watch for new blog posts, if there's still anyone out there who reads this bloggity blog.

Now, where on earth, Major Tom, is my camera??

(Chase kissing his dad while talking to him on Skype.)

Playing catch up

2011-01-17T07:31:00.000-08:00

And it's soooo not going very well.
I think I'm so far behind, I don't know where to start!
Kinda like when your house is a mess, and I mean every single room in the house needs tiding up and you just don't know which room to start in? Not that that ever happens to me of course. Is it grammatically correct to use the word 'that' twice in a row in a sentence. I didn't really wanna use 'that' twice but it just felt right! Whachagonnado?

Allie and I saw Disney On Ice last Wed with our friends Lindsay and Emily. Lindsay and I surprised Allie and Emily with tickets. We drove them all the way to the Thomas and Mack Center and told them we were there to see a UNLV Runnin Rebels basketball game. They weren't excited but tried to stay positive the whole way walking thru the parking lot.

(Allie and her best bud Emily)

The guy yelling "Get your Disney on Ice programs here" gave it away! When Allie heard that, she about died with joy!
If you ever have a chance to go, GO.
It was so much fun. There was a little girl sitting a couple rows behind us that kept yelling "MICKEY....MICKEY...DO YOU SEE ME?? MICKEY....UP HERE!!!

Mind you, that we were high up top in the balcony, so sadly, Mickey didn't see her, but being up so high, you could see everything and no one's big melon was in the way!

The ice skaters were really good and did some cool tricks. Remember that movie "The Cutting Edge" that came out in the early 90's about the hockey player turned Olympic ice skater? Remember that move they did in the end that was so dangerous but they surprised everyone and did it anyway and it won them the gold medal? Yeah, they did stuff like that in the show.

Our favorite, of course, is Aladdin so when they came out, we cheered, we hollered, we whooped and wooed.

(Just look at Cinderella and the Prince in the bottom left hand side of the pic...that's quality stuff right there!)

Notice Chase not talked about or pictured anywhere? He stayed home with grandma and grandpa and was none the wiser. I think when i win Publishers Clearinghouse Sweepstakes and can afford the the VIP tickets, ya know, the one's where you sit right up next to the ice, then I'll take Chase to it. Until then, 10 dollar balcony seats for us will do!!!!

(Allie and a very apparently tired me)

(My best bud Lindsay and her cute daughter Emily)

Until next year!

P.S. Blog: I'm so far behind on playing catch up that I'm going to start working my way backwards to Christmas and later. My goal, dear blog, is to do a post a day to catch up. I know you're going to be waiting with baited breath! But I don't recommend it! :) You may suffocate and die but I'll try my best!

Dear blog...

2011-01-09T20:30:00.000-08:00

The time has come...
to start blogging again for pete's sake.
Now listen here blog, in my defense, I haven't had much alone time to be with my "thoughts" you see.
My hubs was gone for 3 weeks in Nov and Dec and in those 3 weeks, Chase morphed into a devil child and was a hittin, kickin, screaming machine. Apparently Chase didn't like Eric leaving for training.
That in turn took up all my free time, ya know, with the wrastling i had to do with him every night just to get him into his room to go to bed.
Then the hubs came home from training and all the bad behavior stopped...like someone had flipped a switch. And the hitting, kicking, screaming got replaced with kissing.
I know, it's a real eyebrow furrow-er.

Just as Chase wasn't privy to who he hit, kicked or screamed at, he isn't privy to who he kisses or comes into 'gentle' contact with.
Like the waitress at Chili's that he kissed on the elbow when he was walking past her on his way back from the bathroom. Or the lady sitting in the booth that he tapped lightly on the thigh and said "spank".
Or the wall we were sitting by in Sacrament Meeting today that he kept kissing ...and the little girl's wrist sitting in the pew in front of us.

While Eric was home for Christmas, we had a great time and a great Christmas. Although we were all coughing and sniffling the week of Christmas, except Allie. Lucky duck!
Chase sounded like he could cough up a lung.
Thankfully he didn't.

Santa was kind and brought Allie an electric scooter.

On Christmas night, since Chase was so sick, we didn't think we should go to anyone's house. Call us crazy, but with a bad cough and snot covered cheeks and nose, we decided drugging up Chase with medicine and going to the drive-in was a better idea. Luckily for us, Papa John's was open, so Christmas dinner for us was half ham and pineapple and half supreme. We saw Gulliver's Travels, it was h-i-l-a-r-i-o-u-s. What can I say?? I am a Jack Black fan so i loved it. There's a scene where he uses a Prince song to help his friend woo the princess....classic use of 80's music for love. Brilliant.

Among other movies we saw:
TRON
Good movie. Eric doesn't get excited about movies, as do I (Twilight) and so to see him excited about Tron was fun.

(Us waiting for TRON to start)

When the previews were all finally done, the movie starts but it wasn't Tron. It was Little Fockers. Everyone in the theatre was in a dizzy. Eric was one of the first to pop up out of his seat to tell them the projectionist dude had definelty started the wrong movie. The hubs wanted his TRON.
So they fixed it surprisingly fast and the right movie was shown.

We received a 50 dollar gift card to Lowe's from Eric's sister...which we loved. It's as good as a Hobby Lobby gift card!

With it we bought new outside lights, so now we have at least one thing that isn't exactly the same as everyone else on the block!

(Old outside lights)

(New and improved!)

(And not like everyone else's!)

(Now, if only I could have grass in my front yard...but well, this is Vegas, whatchagonnado?)

I have since changed out the light bulbs from those energy saving, super bright great for the environment (butt ugly) lighbulbs to the energy sucking better looking light bulbs. But in my defense, they're only on a few hours a night....does that justify it??
No?
Rats.

On New Years Day, we played Just Dance 2.
That Wii game spells f-u-n.
But seeing as how I'm the world's most uncoordinated person, my 8 year old beat my score.
See how I'm not doing the same move the person in the game is?? You're supposed to do the same moves the person on the game does. Oops!

By the way, on New Years...I made it until 10:37pm.
Eric was in bed before that.
Aren't we fun!!?? :)

It takes a village....

2010-12-18T22:21:00.000-08:00

So the other day, i wrote a post about Chase's new-found aggression and how hard it's been to handle and how things have been tough since Eric left for training.
But then i got to thinking that the post sounded like i was feeling sorry for myself.
So after a couple of days, i deleted it, but not because you should never feel sorry for yourself and tell someone about it, but because i don't want to shed a negative light on Chase's autism.
I don't want to be remembered as someone who complained all the time about her son's autism, and wished for something different.
His condition is what it is, and I've finally accepted that chances are, there might never be a cure for autism in this lifetime, and we just have to do with what we got.
So with that being said, Chase is still Chase, and we still have hard times.
Like today, i wanted to run into Michaels, really quick, but Chase wouldn't even get out of the car and when I finally 'bribed' him out with a lollipop, he only wanted to follow the rabid pigeons in the parking lot while eating said lollipop, instead of walk into the store.
I was able to get him halfway to the front door of the store from the parking lot before it became crystal clear that going into Michaels was not going to be an option. It never really was.
I feel really bad for being rude to the pan handler that started asking me for money while Chase was "voicing his opinion" about getting out of the car. I didn't let the guy finish asking for money before i rudely interrupted and said "I don't have anything" but i said it in an "I"m annoyed that you are even talking to me" kind of voice. He replied with an "Okay Thank you ma'am, and Happy Holidays" but in a nice voice.
So i felt like pooooooop.
Then I had to tell Allie that we had to leave, and we went home and I cried because I knew the rest of Saturday would be spent at home, not able to do anything and all I wanted to do was feel sorry for myself, and I did. For a couple of hours anyway, until Eric called and talked to me and then sent me the most beautiful picture text of a Wisconsin sunset, which i loved because that's where i served my mission and it was perfect. So i got up, and cleaned my house.
Then i went to my ward Christmas party and have you ever heard that saying "it takes a village to raise a child?"
Well, it's true. The people in my ward are amazing. They help me out so much when Eric's gone. And I never feel judged by them when it comes to Chase. What a blessing that is in my life!
So do i really have reason to feel sorry for myself??
No way I say!!

November??

2010-12-05T23:12:00.000-08:00

What? Where did November go? Anyone know? Because I don't!! Even my 8 year old wonders where it went.
Anyway, the Christmas season is upon us.
I'm sad my parents won't be here for Christmas, but where they are at is where they should be!
They're currently serving a mission in the Melbourne Australia Mission and they are loving every minute of it. If you know my parents, you know they are doing amazing things for the people "down unda!" And they'll be home in October, after a quick jaunt to New Zealand so my mama can visit where she spent her "High School" years. She likes to joke about the fact that she 'never gradutaed High School and has no High School diploma'. But that's because they don't do that in New Zealand. And High School there was much harder there than in the US, so much so that when she went to BYU, they enrolled her as a Sophomore her Freshman year!
I'm proud of my parents and all they are accomplishing, and we all can't wait till they come home.

And now....let's talk about Chase.
Chase, my boy, my reason for gray hair at 33.
My angel boy who knows no malice, jealousy, or discontent.

Chase keeps me on my toes and never encourages a dull atmosphere.

See this book? I don't know why, but for some reason, every night, Chase shoves it under his bedroom door. No matter where I hide it in his room, he finds it, and shoves it under the door. If I shove it back under the door, when I wake up in the morning, it's back where it was before i shoved it back under the door.
Silly boy!

Starting Over

2010-11-22T23:20:00.001-08:00

Okay, so I've tried to blog several times since my last blog post, but i keep getting side tracked and having to start over!
Plus, with Eric getting ready to go serve in the pesky war in Afghanistan soon, we've been busy getting him ready to leave. There's alot to do when you're spouse is leaving you for 7 months!
Like:
~making sure there's enough salt in the water softener and going to Home Depot and buy enough bags of salt to last for 7 months...i ain't gonna lie, them bags be heavy.
~cleaning out the garage
~finishing some home projects while I still have him here to help me! (I'm gonna miss my project buddy!)
~ fixing the stucco around the back door and painting said back door

~ going shopping for cold weather 'stuff' so that while Eric's in Wisconsin training with the Army for 3 weeks, in December, (plus good 'ol Afghanistan is quite chilly this time of year), he doesn't have to freeze to death if i can help it. I know a thing or two about spending time in Wisconsin in the winter, don't ya know! (Yep, that's me, in the dead of winter, while I was on my mission in Wisconsin)

You don't know winter until you've spent one in the great state of Wisconsin...or Russia, but i've never been to Russia, i just know how cold it is there at Christmas time from watching Rocky IV many times.
and the list goes on....
But I'm grabbing a minute right now to catch up on blogging, so here we go (sucking in to hold my breath until this post is done so i can actually finish something i start...or pass out, whichever comes first)

Here's a few projects Eric and I were able to finish before he leaves on Saturday to train with the Army. I must say, I am slightly jealous that he's training with the Army because:
1.) He gets to go to Wisconsin, which of course holds a special place in my heart because that's where I served my mission, but i don't envy that he is going in the winter, because i haven't forgotten how cold it was there. It was so cold there in the winter that we had to knock on people's doors with a golf ball, because if you tried to knock with your hand in your glove, no one could hear the knock. But if you were silly enough to take your hand out of your glove, 2 things would happen. First, your hand would instantly freeze and become paralyzed and you'd feel like you were getting frostbite the second your bare hand hit the open air, but, if you knocked with your bare hand, the skin covering your knuckles would split open. Ouch.

2.) He gets to shoot those guns that sit on top of the tanks. How fun would that be? I think pretty fun, but not fun enough to make me want to run out and join the Army. I just think it would be fun once, and then I'd go on with my day.

Okay, back to our projects.
We saw this idea in a magazine, to make a wall clock using family pictures. It turned out so cute, and looks even better in person. Now imagine the clock, on a painted wall, which is coming soon. White walls don't live long in our house. Thanks to all the military houses we've endured :)

I saw this sundial mirror on a blog and thought it was very cute! I had a spot on the wall in our loft that needed something, and I"m slowly getting rid of store bought items to hang on walls, and trying to make my own. The whole thing cost me about 5 dollars to make, and was easy like sunday morning. Wanna know how i did it??? Just ask! I'll tell, I promise!

But this next one is my fav!

It was my thought up creation made a reality with alot of help from Eric!

I love how it turned out. It completed our bedroom i tell you what! I think if we ever switched which side of the bed we slept on, i would have to change the letters to match. Is that OCD talking here??

There are many more projects just swim swim swimming around in my big ol' head right now that I am itchin to make....but for now, i'm busy getting the hubs ready to deploy. I'll have time on my hands when he's gone, but let's just hope the time isn't filled with broken bones and trips to the ER....remember that post from not so long ago?? Broken bones, trips to the ER, and flu's aren't my idea of a good way to pass the time. Curse you double bouncing abilities of a trampoline!

Halloween 2010...a success??

2010-11-01T23:05:00.000-07:00

Yes, yes it was.
Allie was Cleopatra
and the Chaser was Fred, Fred Flinstone that is.

OH THE CANDY THEY GOT! The good stuff too, like Butterfingers galore, Almond Joy delights, not to forget Snickers, Babe Ruth's and the ever yummy Peanut Butter m&m's! Which Eric stole out of Chase's stash and took to work with him this morning.....and Chase is none the wiser! aw, poor chase! >:> <----- that's my mischievous grin! We did find one box of raisin's in Chase's loot o' candy. But we could easily overlook that faux pas by remembering all the other good candy Chase got...eg: see above mentioned goodness. We were bad Mormon's and went trick or treating on Sunday. But in our defense, we couldn't attend our Ward's Trunk or Treat they held on Saturday night because The Chaser can't do trunk or treats....he just can't. It's too many kids, all at once, walking 2 steps and having to wait in long lines for candy...not mention the kids that get impatient and start to shove. We tried our ward's trunk or treat last year, and Chase melted down like an ice cube in July. It was not pretty. Come to think of it, trunk or treats make me feel a little autistic. Having to walk 2 steps, force your child to say trick or treat, and thank you 5 million times every 5 seconds may sound like tons o' fun, but, not really.

Here's the kids right before we started trick or treating:

People were handing out so much candy, Eric had to run back to the house and empty Chase's bucket 3 times!! S-c-o-r-e
And are they not the cutest Cleopatra and Fred Flintstone you ever did see?

Right as we started out, and I mean, right as we started out, like we'd taken 5 steps, Allie's shoes broke, so she was barefoot all night. We were out 2 hours and she ran barefoot the whole time like it was nobody's business.

Allie washing the night off her feet

My Egyptian princess, with chocolate all over her face, already, after being home 3 minutes.

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!!

Allie got baptized! She's 8! Oh my!

2010-10-28T17:29:00.000-07:00

My baby got baptized.
The girl who, just yesterday, was my baby girl, and now she's 8 and continuing to grow up.
There's nothing I can do to stop it either!
I cannot handle this, but it must be so.

She got baptized on October 9th.
When we walked into the Relief Society room to watch the baptism, Chase, as soon as he saw the font full of water, said "Bathtub!" and proceeded to try and climb over the front cover trying to get in. I wish i had snapped a picture of it...for it was mucho funny-o!
Then when Allie and Eric stepped into the font and were getting ready to start the prayer, all you could hear was "Allie take a bath! Allie....take a bath!" "Bat-tized"

After the baptism, we had a luncheon at my in-laws. It was yummo and fun! Everyone had a good time and Allie was glowing all day. When we asked her if she felt different after she was baptized and confirmed, she said "Yeah! I do! I feel the Spirit!"

She's growing up and I cannot handle this.
But if she has to grow up, I'm proud of what she's growing into. A beautiful, sweet, angel daughter whom i love with all my heart! She's already learning how the Holy Ghost can work in her life and listens to his promptings and heeds them! What a smart girl!

Wow, aren't we a photogenic group of folks eh?? I'm just glad we could get this done before Eric leaves for Afghanistan.
It was a great day for our family and I'm so proud of my wonderful Allie!

Hoover Dam yo

2010-10-22T12:04:00.000-07:00

Last Saturday, we went to Hoover Dam's grand opening of the long awaited bridge over the Dam they finally finished building. It's awesome. Instead of having to drive around the Dam when you're coming or going towards Arizona, now you can go over the dam. This would have been useful so many times to us in the past when we were stationed in Arizona and New Mexico, but alas, it's here now and they allowed the public one day to walk on the bridge. You can walk on the bridge in designated areas now that it's open, but we were walking in the street on the bridge. Eric wanted to do it to be a part of 'history'. It was hot but we got to ride a double decker bus to the bridge, which was, in the words of Allie, "the most awesome thing she has ever done or will ever do in her life." Still so easy to please an 8 year old.

We parked across the street from the Hacienda Hotel and got on the buses there. While waiting in line to get on the bus, they handed us 4 free tickets to the buffet at the Hacienda Casino. Score. I love Vegas buffets, well, I guess in this case, Boulder City buffets. Anyway, I grew up on them, buffets. It's where we went out to eat for celebrations or whatever the occasion. AndFree food always tastes better too. In 9 years of marriage, i don't think Eric and I have been to a Vegas buffet together. Mostly because we never lived in Vegas until now in our marriage. I can really pack it away at a buffet. They're my fav because whenever i go to a restaurant, i can never decide what I want because what I want is a little of everything, and so I order something and then wish I'd ordered something else, or I end up wanting what Eric ordered. And Eric is like Joey was on Friends with sharing food. Remember that? Joey's character did NOT like sharing food. And neither does Eric. Which is why when we go to a drive thru, and he's driving, i always take the first bite of his food before giving it to him as punishment for never sharing with me when we're at a restaurant.
Anyway, i digress.....back to the point of this blog....

(Allie on the double decker bus excited for the ride)

(Chase pickin his nose)

(The Colorado River)

(Hoover Dam)

(The Arizona po po)

(European guy wearing socks with sandals)

(Waving to people down below whilst atop the bridge, is whilst a word? It is now. I'm like Jack on 30 Rock making up new words like 'inoventually')

(Kids on the bridge, not afraid of heights, and Chase standing like Wow Wow Wubbzy)

(Just like the sign says "bridging greatness indeed)

(And last but not least, the 'family picture' atop the bridge, with Allie's eyes closed, and Chase barely in it. Makes for a promising Christmas card no??)

I love Saturday activities that are completely 100 percent free, involve a casino buffet and end with Chase having been a complete angel all day! This behavior therapy stuff is really working! He did a-ma-zing!!!

What have I done??

2010-10-20T19:52:00.000-07:00

Well, I'll tell ya, right now, here on this blog.
This first one I like to call.....

The Carpal Tunnel Autumn Wreath:
I saw this wreath on someone's blog the other day, and thought it looked easy to make! And it was!
But the gal failed to mention that if you have carpal tunnel, it will flare up while making this wreath.
First, start with a wire hanger and bend it into a circle.

Then, go get your fine self some cute Fall fabric (on sale right now at Joanne's for 40 percent off)
Cut your fabric into 1 in wide strips, while not using your fabric wheel cutter thingy that looks like a mini pizza cutter because you can't find it so you had to use fabric scissors and had numb wrists when you were done cutting the fabric from all the opening and closing of the scissors while cutting the said fabric.

Then, tie the fabric strips one by one around the hanger making sure to tie it in a double knot. And before you know it, you've watched an episode of Chuck and your wreath is done!!

Then make a bow

(ribbon bought at the dollar store), hot glue it on the wreath and Voila! Hang him up, your done!

(I love a dub dub this fabric)

( I.love.Halloween)

(Awww....friends)

The second installment of this blog coming tomorrow! I know you're waiting with baited breath for more..

Vegas Weekend

2010-10-12T00:02:00.001-07:00

When I hear people say that there's noting to do in Las Vegas and they can't wait until they get stationed somewhere else, I just don't understand it.

We've been stationed at 4 bases so far in Eric's military career, and each place had stuff to do, even when we were in the middle of nowhere New Mexico.
Being stationed at Nellis AFB, we have the advantage of being somewhere that we're both familiar with of course, growing up here and all you know.
But it feels different here since we've been gone for so many years. It's nice being back home for a while, rediscovering our city.
A few weekends ago, when the menfolk went to the race track, us ladies, and Chaser, went for some Vegas fun.

First we hit up the M&M factory next to the MGM, but not before seeing the lions at the MGM.

Chase was captivated by the lions, very cool, then on over to the m&m factory. My favorite thing about it was they had "vampire" m&m's. They were gray, red and black ...if only they had Edward's face on them...yeah, I'm that girl, it's like that.

(Chase was lovin the Vegas sign made outta real M&M's, while sporting saggy shorts...the boy needs a belt or a butt...at least he's potty trained! )

I've been to these places before, but it's a whole different experience doing this stuff with your kids. Eric and I have had a blast taking our kids to all the places we loved growing up here.

Then we went on over to the Silverton Casino, which is new to me, to have dinner and see the mermaid in the huge aquarium.
Allie LOVED it, Chase did too.

Ya gotta love Vegas.
Where else can you go to in October and see mermaids, huge lizards on the wall, about a million M&M's, then eat a pound of those million M&M's, take a picture with a midget Elvis and Marylin Monroe, an overweight Spiderman, all while doing it in 90 degree weather?? I ain't gonna lie, i love Vegas in the Fall! As far as I'm concerned, the cooler temps, and yes, i do consider 90 degrees as cooler temps, can stick around for a while! I am not a fan of the cold. Thankfully, we've always been stationed in hot places! (Tucson, Okinawa, New Mexico, Vegas.....)Hope that trend continues!

P.S. This beauty got baptized last Saturday...pics and story to come!

Wanna know how to get some Heaven on Earth?

2010-10-01T18:33:00.000-07:00

Take yourself right on down to the DQ and get your fine self one of these bad boys.
You won't regret it.

My oldest....is 8! I'm not okay with this at all.

2010-09-22T14:39:00.000-07:00

My Allie, my first born, turned 8 this month.
Where did the time go?
It seems like just yesterday she was a baby and we were living in our two bedroom apt in Tucson Arizona. Eric was gone most of my pregnancy with Allie due to joining the Air Force and heading off to boot camp and tech school.
I was about 3 months preg when he left, so i didn't look preg yet, and when he returned, i was 36 almost 37 weeks preg and swollen.
We got stationed at Davis Monthan AFB in Tucson Arizona right after he got home from tech school and were only there for 10 months when we got orders to move to Okinawa Japan.
The only thing I knew about Okinawa was that Mr Miyagi was from there and in Karate Kid 3, they go there.
After we were there for less than 3 months, Eric went to Iraq and i had my Allie to keep me company. She was my little buddy. It was always her and I, we had each other whenever Eric had to deploy.

And now, she's 8, and wants to be with her friends every second that she's not at school.

On her b-day, Eric and I brought her McDonalds for lunch at school.

The kids around her died when they saw she had Mickey Dee's for lunch.....at school.

But we brought cupcakes for her classmates, so that brought 'em back to life.

Then for dinner she requested Little Sleazers (Little Caesers) cheese pizza...easy!

We had her b-day party in August before school started. So glad we did!

(This nightmare of a cake was my attempt at making a barbie doll cake. Allie's party was Princess and the Frog themed, so i thought i could do it. I should know better. When i was created, i wasn't given the "creative/able to do things that are easy to other people gene." I love Chase's blond head in this picture though!)

(My little helper, or destroyer...not sure which)

(Opening of the presents)

(Eating of the pizza)

(Hitting of the pinata)

(The substitute cake after the failed doll cake)

(Allie and the Emily's..)

(I made this cake on her actual birthday. I went the safe route and it turned out goooood, except Chase ate the exclamation point before we lit the candles. He's knows what's good.)

I've informed Allie that all birthday's stop at 10, for I cannot handle this growing up business.
I only have 2 children, and they are growing up too fast.
I am not okay with this at all!! ;)

No comments from the peanut gallery please!

2010-09-16T10:01:00.000-07:00

It was approximately 3pm on Labor Day, and I was in Fresh and Easy buying ice cream to have after Family Home Evening.

I was at the check out line and Chase was being my helper by pushing the buttons on the touch screen at check out. I wouldn't have let him do it if he wasn't being compliant with which buttons to push, but he was being great! The most compliant he'd EVER BEEN at a store. I was watching him the whole time and not letting him push buttons at random just for fun. When we finished and turned to leave, Chase turned back around and started pushing the buttons, and like a millisecond second later, i was there to stop him.
One of the employees muttered under his breath "it's not a toy". This employee hadn't been standing there to see Chase being super compliant, which isn't always the case with Chase. All he saw was when Chase turned back around to the register when we were walking away. Lucky for that guy, it didn't register to me what he'd said until i was walking out the door. Had i realized what he said at the time he said it, my exit from the store could have gone a lot differently.

One of my biggest pet peeves since becoming a mom is when other people feel they need to chime in their two cents. I couldn't have been quicker at stopping Chase from pushing buttons but this dude still had to make a comment.

As the mother of an autistic child, I've learned to overcome alot when it comes to having my child with me in public. The embarrassment of having Chase flip out in public was a hard one to overcome.....and when I say flip out, that's putting it nicely. It's more like a full on melt down times a million. I've learned to not let it bother me that people are staring or shaking their heads in disbelief or in disagreement at how my child is reacting and how I'm handling it. I've learned to not let it bother me when people huff and puff, roll their eyes, burn me with their judgmental thoughts and looks, and even when they full on stop and stare, i could care less. But when they make comments, that's what I still have trouble with...that and when Chase wants to lie face down on the floor at Walmart...Yuck...i die ;)

What the man said in Fresh and Easy wasn't horrible, it's just the judgmental look for Chase he had on his face and the fact that I was so quick to stop Chase from pushing any more buttons should have been enough. The man didn't see the perfect compliance Chase was exhibiting just seconds earlier.
"So.....No comments from the peanut gallery please."

Parents of children with autism know how important it is for their child to learn to be compliant. It's the first thing they teach when you start autism behavior therapy. Nothing else can be learned if the child isn't compliant, and that in itself is a daunting task when it's first being taught. Everyday things get alot easier when compliance isn't an issue. Nobody is a perfect parent, but we're all trying to do our best given what we've got, and that should be enough.

When a parent is struggling with their child in a public place, the last thing they need is questions like "Is everything okay?"
"Do you need help?"
"Is he alright?"

Yes, everything's okay, NO i do not need help, and yes, my child is fine believe it or not. Unless you have training in how to handle a child with autism, then move it along people:) But I know sometimes they're just trying to help.
I have the right mind next time when someone asks if I need help to actually say, "yes! i do need help. I would love it if you would watch my son while i finish my shopping in peace. I hope you won't mind that I will be taking my time and enjoying myself ":)

I've had people stop and say to me "does your son have autism?? And when i say yes, they'll tell me that their nephew or grandson or cousin or someone in their life has it too and then we empathize together and instantly they take their place in the autism family that surrounds so many of us in this world.

So the next time you're at Walmart, and you see a child having a melt down, try to remember that child may have autism and is learning, albeit slow, how to handle and deal with their emotions....or they may just be a typical 2 year old having a melt down, and just be glad it's not you that has the screaming child in your shopping cart ;)

(Chase with one of his therapists learning how to write his name. Don't worry, he not completely naked...he has socks on :) and underwear! But hey, it's still 100 degrees in Vegas, so why not strip down when you get home from school?!

We labored....on Labor Day!

2010-09-11T15:56:00.001-07:00

One day, a couple of months back, i saw a dresser at Goodwill that I HAD to have for Allie's room. Her current dresser was gettin' the job done, but I wanted one for her that wasn't so tall. It threatened to fall on her once when she was opening the top drawer, so we nailed it to the wall until we could get her a shorter wider one.

So.....back to being in the Goodwill......A couple of months back,I had walked into the GW and lo and behold, the heavens were opened and I saw the light.
The perfect dresser for Allie's room.
I envisioned it being sanded and painted white with different knobs.

I always wanna kick myself for almost always forgetting to snap a picture of any thrift store item purchased for a make-over before we start "making it over" ....i didn't snap a pic of this dresser for Allie's room until we had already removed the hardware and spent hours stripping the layers and layers of polyurethane it had on it. (FYI: A belt sander is not made to take off layers of polyurethane. The stuff sticks to the sand paper which then defeats the purpose I tell ya! So the chemical stripper is the way to go. But beware: you will need lots of gloves because that stuff is strong!

Anyway, here's the best before and after pics i got.
And PS. I LOVE LOVE L-O-V-E how it turned out!

Before:

(This was taken after we had stripped the poly, and taken off the hardware to spray paint it and we added legs and 2 pieces of wood for decor.)

After:

I couldn't be happier with how it turned out! The 2 white knobs on the top drawers we found at Hobby Lobby for so cheap! They were perfect! A for Allie don't ya know!

(We spray painted the drawer pulls black, they were a brass color before. It was too expensive to replace all the hardware with different hardware, but painting it black made all the difference!)

This mirror I found at GW for 2.99. It was perfect! Mirror Mirror on the wall you know! It was plastic and a brass color. We spray painted it white and then spray painted a glitter gloss to it. Just imagine it all on a dark pink wall...coming soon....next paycheck of course! :)

You can dance if you want to....

2010-09-03T19:06:00.000-07:00

When we first moved into our house last December, I quickly learned how thankful i was that our house has 3 bathrooms. 2 upstairs, and one downstairs.

The reason being: When we first moved in, Eric's shift at work began at 6am, which meant he had to leave the house no later than 5:30am (because we don't live on base,) which meant he was getting up at 5am, and on days he had PT (physical training) it was even earlier. A time I won't dare mention because it was that early in the morning. A time only parents with newborn babies know about and know well.

So I quickly banned him from using the bathroom in our room and he claimed the downstairs bathroom as his own.

Now that he works the graveyard shift, the "bathroom issue" isn't an "issue" anymore, but he still claims the downstairs bathroom as his own. So, if it's a "man's" bathroom, as he claims, then i knew if i wanted to put any decor in there, it needed to have no frills.

So since I'm still somewhat laid up with this:
I try to do things that don't require much standing up and walking around, because, man oh man, if you've ever broken you're 4th toe on your left foot....it hurts, and you really wish your home didn't have stairs...20 stairs to be exact....and everyday you wake up, you see that the bruising has moved further down your foot..
I swear my toe is dead.
Eric assures me it's supposed to look like this, and says if i would poke it with a needle, it would feel better/it would relieve the pressure.
I just can't do it.
My 7 year old says she would do it if it were her toe.
When i'm in the car, i swear it's going to explode, well, it feels like that anyway.

So today when the kids were at school, and Eric was working in his man cave, i made this for "his" bathroom downstairs.Upon hobbling down the stairs and entering the 'man cave' to show it to Eric, he said out of everything I've made, this is his favorite.
It now hangs above the toilet...and everyone who goes in, will for sure come out singing "The Safety Dance". Thank you Men Without Hats!

(P.S...The best part? The whole thing only cost me 1.99 to make because I already had the scrapbook paper, modge podge and cardstock. The frame was $1.99 at Goodwill. Does it get any better? No, no it doesn't :)

1st day of school

2010-08-31T12:37:00.000-07:00

Ah yes, the ever so famous "1st day of school pics".

In other people's pictures, you see children dressed in fun new school clothes, donned with shiny new shoes and unripped backpacks. A new lunch box at their side with a look of ambition and excitement in their eyes, and smiles from ear to ear...
But this is what you see at my house:

(That darn computer is like an appendage on Chase. He's always got it with him and always wanting to play with it.)

(Allie finally got him to actually kinda look at the camera and kinda smile)

So, in these pics, you see a Kindergartner crying, and a 2nd grader silently wishing her school didn't follow a dress code(hence, the plain white polo shirt)...(she hates it but I love it!!) Makes school clothes shopping a whole lot easier! :)

The 1st day of school for us was spewing with a whole lotta crying....and not for the usual reasons there's crying on the first day of school.

Usual reasons could be:
*Mom is sad her baby is going off to Kindergarten
*Kindergartner is crying because they don't want to go to school
*Kindergartner is scared or nervous
the list could go on! But I won't....

But what I will do is tell you that yesterday, the first day of school, in the morning, I was the one crying before we even left the house, because I couldn't find any of the school supplies I had bought, and...because of this:
Every day it looks worse, and hurts worse, but i suppose it's gotta get worse before it gets better right?? That's what they say, whoever they is! :)

Also, Chase wouldn't get out of the car at school, and he bumped his head, and he wouldn't carry his backpack, and he wouldn't hold my hand through the busy parking lot. I guess in the 3 weeks he was out of school for summer vacation, he forgot how it all worked. I will for sure be missing year round schools come next summer! Here's to hoping that someday Clark County School District goes back to year round school, someday.

P.S....the pictures above are secretly from the "2nd day of school"!

Good Idea/Bad Idea

2010-08-30T09:21:00.000-07:00

Good Idea:
Going to the long awaited, most anticipated grand opening of Hobby Lobby in Vegas.

(Me and the kids)

Bad Idea:
Taking your 5 yr old autistic son with you....oops.
Imagine a gazillion and one eye level shopping carts every where you turn, and probably feeling like they're coming right at you, and not wanting to get into one of the said shopping carts and instead, feeling like throwing yourself on the ground and crying is the better idea.

(Chase on Halloween last year, but he pretty much looked the same at Hobby Lobby, minus the tiger costume though)

Good Idea:
Redbox

Bad Idea:

Forgetting you rented a Redbox movie over a week ago and never returned it. What shoulda been .99 cents turned into not .99 cents.

Good Idea:
Allie wanting a Barbie cake for her b-day party

Bad Idea:
Thinking I could make one, don't look too close, it's scary...I wasn't dealt the crafty cake making skill when they were handing out talents in heaven. And no, this was not my first attempt. But I love that Chase's head is in the picture!

(Allie's theme was Princess and the Frog)

Good Idea:
Your 7 yr old receiving a Rapunzel doll at her b-day party on Saturday and instantly falling in love with it and her resplendent flowy golden hair.

Bad Idea:
Her 5 yr old brother cutting off Rapunzel's hair minutes after Rapunzel came out of the box.

(Really Chase? Rapunzel? With all the Barbie's laying around this house, you choose Rapunzel? Of course!)

Good Idea:
Owning a fridge that has a water and ice dispenser.

Bad Idea:
Your son stacking things in the water dispenser, like fridge magnets, small toys, or my all time favorite, a pint glass.

(I ask myself why we own such a pint glass when we don't drink beer! And by the way, pint glasses are heavy.)

But, just so you know, in case you were wondering, toes do a great job of breaking the fall of a pint glass. The pint glass comes away from the scene of the crime unscathed, but your toe, now that's a different story.
But you're in luck, it's a story I can tell!!!

*Warning*
This next part is not for the faint of heart....i'm just sayin....you've been warned.

The Culprit:
A pint glass

The place:
Fridge water dispenser

The Crime:
Falling from the water dispenser, landing on my foot, and seriously injuring the 4th toe on my left foot. See, this is why i do not walk around barefoot, except for right after I've mopped...and i had just mopped...shame on me!

(Minutes after the fall. Note: A hairless Rapunzel's legs on the floor next to me)

Right after it happened, Allie was upstairs and heard the glass fall, and then heard me crying...yes, i cried, alot, because it hurt, alot. And while she was putting a band-aid on, and cleaning up all the blood on the tile, Chase was asking for ice cream!
Note: Chase didn't get ice cream.

(Ouch)

(All the bracelets they gave me at the ER, Fall Risk was my favorite....)

(The next morning)

(Every hour the toe gets blue-er.)

When it happened, Eric was not home, but came home about 20 min later to see me on the floor all red puffy eyed and Allie taking care of me. What would I do without my Allie??!!
As Eric and I were sitting in the ER, he tells me he's never been in the Nellis AFB Emergency Room.
I told him that was unacceptable.
We won't say how many times it's been for me, but if you read my blog enough, you'll already know how much i LOATHE the ER, especially at Nellis.

But finally having Eric there with me, instead of always by myself with the kids or just myself, turned out to be alot of fun!
He played "doctor" when the "dr" was out of the room looking at the x-ray, by bandaging up my toe, cleaning it with hydrogen peroxide, also carrying me to radiology because they had no available wheel chairs. He stole a band-aid for the road, he kept me laughing while we were waiting for endless amounts of time in the waiting room, and he even let me give him hand sanitizer when i felt it was warranted...he adjusted my crutches, dared me to drink from the huge bottle of sterile water, which i did, but he tried it first, offered me a million dollars to lick the ER floor, and obeyed me when i forbid him from using the drinking fountain in the waiting room...that's just asking for mono.

I also realized as I was writing this blog, how almost all of the good idea/bad idea's had something to do with Chase. Chase doens't understand that cutting off Rapunzel's hair is wrong and that it would cause Allie devastation, or that putting a pint glass in the water dispenser could break a toe, or that it wasn't the best time to be asking for ice cream as I'm sitting on the kitchen floor bawling and bleeding. But that's just Chase! And we love him for it, in all his innocence.
Today he went to Kindergarten, he gets to go for 15 minutes a day and hopefully by Oct it can be increased to 30.
Everyday I pray for a cure, all the the while everyday, watching him slowly coming out of his autism.

P.S.
My sister came to watch our kids while Eric and I went to the ER, and Chase seized the opportunity to have ice cream from the gallon bucket 'o ice cream while my sister was upstairs...so in the end, everyone was happy! :)

Turning 33= awesome

2010-08-24T21:55:00.000-07:00

I turned the big three three on Saturday.
It started with Eric getting up at 430am, and going to Walmart to shop for ingredients to make a FAB breakfast in bed, which is one of my best-loved things for your little FYI!

(He even remembered to include a lactaid pill for my lame lactose intolerance since there was yum-meeeee whip cream!)

Then we decided to surprise Allie with breakfast in bed, but not Chase...no no. You don't wake Chase up for something as absurd as homemade pancakes adorned with fresh fruit like: kiwis, strawberries, raspberries and blueberries covered in just the right amount of whip cream, and, "for your information, whipped cream isn't whipped cream at all unless it's been whipped with whips. Everybody knows that."

Then we got dressed and went to the Aria Casino in City Center to get dessert from this place where there-are-no-words-to-describe-the-benevolent-desserts-that-are-sold, but not before stopping by my favorite wall, the one that holds the "9 faces of Christopher Walken" photo posters along the north east wall of the casino. All of them are awesome.

(This one happens to be my fav one, in case you wondered...)

Thennnnnn, we headed over to the Jean Philippe Patisserie, the place I was talking about earlier, like 5.7 seconds earlier, where, if you so desire, you can die and go to chocolate heaven.
And I did, i died that day, and went to chocolate heaven at 10 in the morning.

(This was the one I picked. It was so beauteous it was almost hard to start eating it, almost, but not really hard at all, because I mean, look at it! YUM)

(This was Allie's pick, even better!)

(And this bad boy was the one Eric and Chaser had. Those boys opted out of going to chocolate heaven and after having a bite of theirs, I could see why....just as good as ours!!)

(Even the little squares on the side with the fancy design were made outta chocolate...genius!)

(The Chaser enjoying a bite of mine, while unknowingly falling into chocolate heaven)

(And last but not least, my choclate lovin compadre, Allie, enjoying her pick o' the day)

Then after we came back to life, we came home and the Chaser had his weekly Saturday afternoon autism therapy for 2 hours. When that was done, my in-laws came and picked up the kids and Eric and I went to The Cheesecake Factory in the Forum Shops at Caesars Palace.

Oh my Hannah Montana that place is goooood! I hadn't darkened their doorway for years! It had been way too long and I won't be making that mistake again!
For desert we ordered a piece of lemon raspberry cheesecake, and then shopped at the Forum Shops for a while, all while saying 'Oh remember when this store was that, or when that store was this?' The forum shops have changed alot in the past several years. It's fun being married to someone that grew up in Vegas too and having shared the same memories of your youth, but not knowing each other until we became 'grown-ups' and sharing them together, later.

The next day, we had a contest with my in-laws to see who could fit 33 candles in a cupcake.
Eric and his dad won.

(Eric's masterpiece, which then later sort of exploded)

(Does that size of a flame mean I'm old??)

(My father-in-law's masterpiece)

(His caught the paper on fire, yep, I'm old)

I may be old, but it was the best.....birthday.......I eva eva had.

What's for Dinner?

2010-08-17T10:12:00.000-07:00

When Eric is deployed for months at a time, or even on TDY (temporary duty assignment) for just a few weeks, all cooking stops at my house.
I don't mind cooking, dare I even say I enjoy cooking for my hubby. He's so good about complimenting my cooking, even if it stinks sometimes. He'll try it and find something good about the dish, even if it tasted like poo.

But when he's gone for a while, I totally get out of the habit, and can't just jump right back into cooking when he returns home, as much as he'd like!

He was recently gone for 3 weeks and it took me a whole week to even cook once. For the first week, we sat down to PB&J's and mac n cheese with hot dogs.

I know.

But since then, i knew I needed something to motivate me to get back into it, so I made this in attempt to make me happy about sweatin it up in a hot Las Vegas kitchen.

And it helps, it really does! Looking at it, and what it has written on it all day keeps me in the mindset of, eventually, i gotta brave the heat of cooking in the kitchen in August, and cook away! Yes I have A/C, but when it's well over 100 degrees outside, it still gets hot inside.
All I had to buy was the chalkboard paint. I already had the frame, the chalk, black spray paint and ribbon!

FYI:
Spaghetti taco's rule.
YUM.

Oh, and by the way, I wouldn't mind at all if summer went and caught an untimely death. Our power bill was a beautiful 280 dollars for July.
Out with summer and in with Fall I say!

Where have I been?

2010-08-14T11:00:00.000-07:00

Except for the entry I posted on Saturday, it's been quiet from me in the blogging world.
As soon as July hits in Las Vegas, it got H-O-T.
When it gets hot here, I have very little time to do what I need to do before the sun has robbed me of all energy and I collapse for the day.
I have much more energy in the winter, but the summer is a whole different story.

For 3 weeks in July, Eric was gone to Minnesota for training, the kids were in school, and I got to go thrifting every day...it was bliss! Vegas has some great thrift stores, but, it was HOT...but i went out anyway. I even went out and shopped without a sun shade to put in the windshield. I used to have one until Chase ripped it up in a fit of crazy laughter and naughtiness. All Allie and I could do was laugh and watch his grinning face...sounds weird I know, but i figure it was better than it happening in a fit of autistic rage. Hey, I'll take what I can get! In Chase's defense, the sun shade was already ripped, sort of, so he was just helping it along on the road it was already on.

Any...way....besides the blog entry I posted a couple of days ago, I have been busy and exhausted all at the same time. Hard combo!! Anyone who lives in the desert can agree with me that the summer sun zaps your energy as soon as it can get ahold of it, which is the second you walk out the front door away from your air conditioned house.

But here are a few things I accomplished while he was gone:

(Got this for 10 dollars at Salvation Army)

(I'm really kinda into blue right now)

(I need to move it down and add rosettes to the bottom of the mirror, but I think it really adds charm to my front entry way)

(This sweet 1960's credenza came home with me from Savers for 20 buckaroos. )

It was love at first sight, especially the retro-ness of it. We painted it black and kept the knobs, they just don't make em like that anymore.

We'd been using my hope chest for a TV stand ever since we moved in, so this took the place of that, thankfully! We even found some medical papers in the drawers dated back to the late 60's.

(Found this beaut on Craig's List for next to nothing, and it magically matched my persian rug like perfection I tell you what!)

Allie and Chaser's last day of school was August 5th. Oh year-round school...how I will miss thee!! All schools in Vegas are converting to 9 month, which I think really stinks. We enjoyed year round alot! We had all 3 of our track breaks in the "cooler" months of Las Vegas and were able to enjoy ourselves outside alot. It was great having her in school for the hottest part of summer, it gave them something fun to do and they got to still see their school friends all summer! They have about 3 weeks off before going back to school.

Eric was able to go to IKEA while he was in Minnesota lucky duck! Although, if i were to go there, I had better have just won Publishers Clearinghouse Sweepstakes because I'd buy out the whole store. So...maybe it's better he had to go alone.
He brought home cool stuff!

This hanging chair thing for Allie's room is so cool.

(Eric put it up the first night he was home, the kids lurve it!)
Check out Eric's go-tee. All active duty military men love it when they get the chance to grow facial hair, even if just for a short time. It was gone tho as soon as he came home to me)

(Allie loves it!)

(Hangin out)

The next cool thing he got at IKEA was this:
When it's 116 degrees outside but your kids want to swing...what do ya do?
Buy a swing at IKEA and put it in your house!

(It's in between the great room and the dining room, and it's a-w-e-s-o-m-e)
(It even holds the grown-ups)

(Chase can't get enough)

It's been a great teaching tool for Chase and also a 'reward' during his therapy sessions. He earns the right to swing when he "uses his words" a.k.a...talks! It's so great hearing Chase talk and ask for things.

Thank you IKEA!
Now, please come and build one in Las Vegas...purty please?! I'll shop at you, i promise, even when i don't think i have money, i'll still shop...will that get you to come be with me in the desert?
Oh happy day if IKEA would come to Vegas... :)

Connecting

2010-08-08T23:37:00.000-07:00

(I love the look on Chase's face in this picture....the question is, is this look Le Tigre, Blue Steel, Ferrari or Magnum?)

Every so often, Eric and I are given a day where Chase seems like he's, well, I'm not sure how to explain it, but it's like he acts less autistic than usual.

Yesterday, Chase was talking up a storm. It wasn't that he was having conversations with me or anything, but still just talking alot and his words were clearer than usual, and he was making eye contact like a champ.

I had noticed that something was different yesterday, so did Allie and so did Eric. In the evening, Eric mentioned how Chase seemed different, and commented on how Chase has really progressed in the recent weeks (ABA therapy is wonderful!)
I told Eric how I noticed something different during the day too. It was like Chase was trying to connect with those around him, which isn't something he normally does. Normally he's pretty much in his own little world and he likes it that way. What we try to do and what his therapists do is try to get him out of his own little world that he is so comfortable being in.

Words can't express how much i LOVE when we are given days like yesterday. Days where it seems our son comes out of his autism momentarily, and tries to connect with us. When I say connect, i mean things like talking to us, allowing us to pick him up, hug him, actually stopping and looking at us when we talk to him, and listening to us. It was like that all day yesterday.

Today, it wasn't.
The moment was gone, but not forgotten.

I live for days like yesterday and look forward to the next one that may come; whenever that may be, I'll be ready.

(Chase's self portrait)

From this to that....

2010-07-20T20:58:00.000-07:00

One day, I was at Home Depot with Eric sitting in the magazine/vending machine area and I came across a "Kids Bedroom" catalog.
In it, was a cute bookshelf made to look like a house.
Immediately I showed it to Eric and demand he make it for Allie...well, more like I 'suggested' he make it for Allie.

The good hubby that he is agreed and plans were made.
Wood was bought, along with bead board, paint and supplies. Allow me to stress that when you buy paint, if you're going to by it from Home Depot or Lowe's, always get your paint from Lowe's. Hands down, Lowe's has better paint. Same price at each place, but a lot less headache with Lowe's paint.
Anyway,
Viola! We went from this:

(Bought at Deseret Industries for 10 dollars)

To this:

And then this:

And then finally this:

How happy am I with how it turned out???
VERY!!
Now she has a designated spot to 'organize' her stuff.
She said when it was finished that she might even keep her room clean from now on!!!
One can only hope.

Sleep, it's a glorious thing!

2010-07-15T09:46:00.001-07:00

(Remember this pic from a couple of months ago? This is what I found one morning when I walked into Chase's room to get him up for school. Apparently he'd had a busy night, and found a sharpie to color on his cast, and yes, i made him clean up his room.)

Chase had a bad night last night.
Well, lemmie re-phrase that.
Chase had a bad night before going to sleep.
He didn't want to go to bed when it was time.
I had been ready for him to go to bed for hours.
Every time I turned around yesterday, Chase had something he could carry water in, and was watering my plants...well, more like drowning my plants and flooding the front entry way. Thanks to an episode of Elmo's World where Chase learned how to 'take care of plants', they boy wants to water my plants every 5 seconds. If it's not the watering can he's using, it's a cup, or a glass or a teapot from Allie's Tinkerbell Tea Set. It's gotten to the point where I have to turn off the water under the sink because as soon as i leave a room, a plant will get watered. Even the fake flower arrangement i have sitting on my kitchen table got watered today. That's what I get for switching the laundry in the laundry room. He's getting tricky though, because if he gets a glass of water, he'll pretend like he's drinking it all the way over to the plant in the family room, and then the first chance he gets, he dumps it on the plant.
Anyway, I digress.
The thing with autism, is, that sometimes, they are terrible sleepers.
Chase is a terrible sleeper, but he wasn't always.
He slept fine as a baby, and into the toddler years.
It was when he got into the 'preschool years' that he decided it was a good idea to wake up in the middle of the night, and wander the house.

When we left Japan in 2007, he was still in a crib. He turned 2 right before we left, so when we got to New Mexico, we bought the kids bunk beds.

In Chase's eyes, he had just been handed sweet sweet freedom.
We would wake up in the night to find him wandering the living room, trying to go out the front door, turning off and on the TV, climbing in the dryer, getting into the fridge and breaking all the eggs (that one was my favorite) and of course, jumping on the couch...naked.
He was 2 remember.

Chase is now 5, and he takes medication to sleep. It was explained to us by his doctor that when Chase goes into 'light sleep' he wakes all the way up, instead of, like most of us, when we slip into the light sleep, we roll over and go back to sleep and usually don't remember doing it.
Without Chase's sleep meds, he may or may not fall asleep, but if he does, he will wake up 3-4 hours later and stay awake for hours. He still wakes up with the medication, but he goes back to sleep much faster.

Last night, when i announced to Chase is was time for bed, he acted like he'd just been told it was time to storm the shores of Normandy.
In other words, he didn't want to go to bed.
He wouldn't go upstairs when i asked him to, so I carried him. He's not easy to carry up a flight of stairs when he's 'not a happy camper'.
Then when we get upstairs, he runs into Allie's room, and proceeds to have a nervous breakdown. He's slobbering, sweating, crying, screaming, and kicking.
An autistic fit at it's best.
His fits have gotten alot better and shorter since his home therapy program started a year ago, but still, every so often, he breaks down like this.

As I'm sitting there on Allie's bed, (Allie was downstairs watching Jumanji)...wishing Eric was here because Eric has a way with Chase that I don't, I started silently praying that I could handle this moment the best way for Chase. I didn't feel out of control, or angry or impatient, I felt helpless. A typical 5 year old has hissy fits still sometimes, I know that, but not like this. As a parent of a child with autism, we yearn for normality, and his behavior last night was not normal. I know Chase will never be "normal". Why do I want that for him when I know it's not possible? It seems unfair to him. It's like trying to stuff a square peg through a triangle hole. But what we're striving to do is help him to be self sufficient and independent to survive in a world that's "normal".

So as I sat there with Chase, a feeling, and a thought came into my mind. That feeling/thought said "I know this is hard, I know you're feeling hopeless, but you are blessed with a healthy body and a willing heart to do this, so do it."

I looked at Chase, I stood up, I told him that I loved him, and I bid him goodnight. This was something I knew he needed to and would work through on his own, and he did. Within minutes he was quiet, calm and asleep.

I went downstairs, sat next to Allie, and we finished watching Jumanji together. After the movie was over, she turned to me and said "Is Chase asleep in my room?"
I said "Yep"
Allie said "That's good, he likes my room."
"He sure does Allie".

In the morning, I go upstairs to get Chase up for school, and I found him sitting on the toilet, naked, eating a banana.
Where in the world did he find a banana, and why was he on the toilet naked eating it?
I may never know.
How boring would my life be without my children?
I never want to know!

(The kiddos on Easter in Cedar City Utah)