I am a 3rd generation Arizona Native. Other than a year and a half adventure just after high school in Los Angeles, I have lived in the “Valley of the Sun” my entire life...

...I remember as a teen coming to the surprising realization that most people that lived in Arizona were actually originally from somewhere else. I don’t blame people for finding their way out here. It’s a desirable place to live for many reasons. It’s the 3rd most diverse state in the country as far as climate and wildlife/vegetation goes. We literally have everything except the beach. Arizona is home to the largest ponderosa pine forest in the world. It’s also the only place in the world where the Saguaro cactus naturally grows. We have the Grand Canyon, Sedona, and many other amazing natural wonderous places to explore. I don’t have the energy to list everything. If you want to escape the desert and are in the mood for some cooler weather - like some snow and pine tree covered mountains - it’s a quick hour+ drive up north and there you are! (Like where we live now!).

Other than about 3 months of the year (give or take) of weather above 100 degrees, the weather in the valley is excellent the other 80% of the year. Bright blue sunny skies, no humidity, 50-60 degree winter days... It’s like perfect vacation weather almost the entire year long. Between the months of September - April people come from all over to vacation, explore, and escape their miserable freezing cold, gloomy days at home. Tons of “Snowbirds.” Eric and I always joke that “You know it’s Fall in Arizona when the license plate colors start changing!”

I’ll never forget the 3 months I spent with Eric during the first year of our marriage in Cleveland, Ohio for his CRNA school clinicals. We were there from December - February. While at first I thought it was fascinating and kind of exciting - all the snow and winter coats and super cold weather - it didn’t take too long for me to figure out it’s actually not that fun and just miserable and gloomy. I missed seeing the sunshine so much I literally took pictures of it whenever it would randomly peek through the clouds. I would look at my friends’ and family’s posts from Arizona with longing to go home and be able to do things outside, like go hiking or for a morning run in a tank top. By the time we were ending our journey and heading back to Arizona, I was legit depressed.

I remember once when visiting Eric’s family in Columbus during Christmas, we went to the zoo to see the zoo lights, and it was so freezing cold my legs were numb and actually hurt. It was not enjoyable. Neither was that time we went Christmas shopping at Polaris - an OUTDOOR shopping mall. I couldn’t walk fast enough to get into the next store so I didn’t freeze to death.

Haha reading back on all of what I just wrote, I realize I might be in for a rude awakening during my first winter here in Payson! Although the difference between here and Ohio is it’s always sunny here. It was in the low 60’s today and lots of sunshine. I wore a light sweater and kind of wished I was in a t-shirt! We’ll get snow and it will be sunny and beautiful, like a Colorado kind of snow. I am really excited!

The winter I spent in Cleveland gave me a greater appreciation for what I have here in Arizona; especially during the Fall/Winter/Spring months. No gloom, some rain but nothing excessive. Lots of sunshine, etc. - I just love Arizona so much!

The one thing I’ve heard people from elsewhere complain about the most (other than those few months of blazing heat), is that they miss having “seasons”. I never really thought much about it and always thought it was kind of a weird thing to complain about (isn’t that why they came here in the first place? To escape their cold miserable “seasons”?). At the same time I kind of get it... Yes the valley is a desert climate, and so there are fewer trees turning “yellow”, but that doesn’t mean there are ZERO of them. I saw plenty of them all over the place back in Gilbert. In fact, we had one in our very backyard that drove me a little crazy because I hated cleaning up the mess. The park across the street was full of them too!

Anyway, now that we live in Payson, I understand a little bit more about what people mean about the seasons. There really is something sweet about being SURROUNDED by yellow, orange, and red leaves everywhere you look. Granted we live in the pines so there are plenty of evergreen trees too, but it’s been pretty neat to have more of that “Fall” feeling all around you. Especially the sunnier, milder version of it compared to the Midwest. I am literally looking out my window from my couch right now at an Aspen tree with yellowing leaves. It’s quite beautiful.

I’m not saying that Fall doesn’t happen down in the valley - it definitely does. It’s just more subtle. But you can find it if you’re paying attention.

So, Halloween is over and I have been, for the first time in my life, tempted to put up my Christmas decorations early! Something I am strictly against! But I have a son who was born Christmas morning, so Christmas feels extra special now, and I am kind of “chomping at the bit” to start celebrating! But I also love Thanksgiving and firmly believe it deserves it’s turn before we start the Christmas season. Plus I have a toddler who I am excited to teach the different holidays to... So that’s another reason to hold-off.

So today, instead of giving into temptation and putting up my Christmas tree early, I took my children to the park. Surrounded by big, beautiful, colorful leaves, I took that inspiration and decided to embrace this new climate’s gift and get into the Thanksgiving spirit instead of steamrolling into Christmas. We talked about the leaves turning color and falling down for winter. We picked them up and admired how large and pretty they were (and played with them a little bit). We then collected our favorites and brought them home so we could use them for some Thanksgiving-inspired craft(s). So I am taking ideas on what to do with those!

What’s your favorite thing to do with kids during the month of November to get into the Thanksgiving spirit? My goal is to do at least ONE Thanksgiving craft a week with my son. Stay tuned for that! It will be something simple but cute that he will (hopefully) enjoy and I can proudly hang on the wall for a few weeks. And the leaves we’ll use are free - which makes it even better! I’ll probably have Gavin make a Thanksgiving/Fall wreath or a Turkey with leaf feathers... something cute like that. There are tons of cute ideas on Pinterest.

So take a deep breath... Christmas will come too. But for now, let’s embrace Thanksgiving and what we have left of Fall before Winter officially hits us. It’s a good time of year to be positive and reflect on all the many blessings in our lives we are grateful for.

Gavin LOVES Halloween... Obsessively.  I put up my Halloween decorations in early September so he could enjoy them longer.  He can spot a pumpkin, ghost, skeleton or a spider decoration from a mile away.  The spookier the house, the better.  

...He literally isn't afraid of anything.  We let him watch The Nightmare Before Christmas this year (last year I thought he was too young), and he fell in love immediately.  On top of his Halloween obsession, he is also a music lover and loves to sing; so the music in that movie combined with the Halloween scariness of course was a dream come true for him!  He requests we watch it several times a day and always wants me to turn on the music from it in the car.  Even his preschool teacher commented once "He knows almost every word to the opening song of that movie..."  Whoops!  I guess we can't hide the fact we watch TV at home... (hashtag "not ashamed"). 

Back to Halloween...  At first I had a hard time figuring out what I wanted to do for costumes this year.  My mom had made all of our costumes for us when we were kids because she was always disappointed with how cheap and simple the store-bought ones were back then.  I, however, am not that crafty and I am lazy.  So I probably won't be making too many costumes in my lifetime (although I made an amazing Toad costume from Super Mario a few years ago that was pretty amazing... I'll post a photo of that at the bottom of this post).  Anyway, there was an adorable pumpkin costume I remember my little brother wearing when he was about Gavin's age and I thought it would be so cute if Gavin got to wear it this year.  He and Gentry could both be pumpkins and I could be a farmer...  Easy-peasy!  Unfortunately, by the time I had came up with this amazing idea, it was too late for me to go all the way down to the valley and dig around in storage for this vintage pumpkin costume - not knowing exactly where it would be.  (and again, did I mention how lazy I am?).  So, backup plan, I looked online for pumpkin costumes for a 4-5T sized 3 year old toddler and hated everything I saw.  There were really cute ones for babies though - perfect for Gentry.  ...LONG story short, it finally hit me that (duh!) Gavin should be Jack from Nightmare Before Christmas!  

​He could be Jack, I could be Sally, and Gentry could be a pumpkin...  Done!  I shopped, I bought, I conquered...  I was so excited and so was Gavin. 

Then another realization came to me... I never get good photos of the kids in their costumes on Halloween night.  It is so hard with all the chaos of getting everyone fed, ready, and out the door at a decent time... Plus by the time you've done all of that, the light outside sucks.  So, this year I decided I would actually plan ahead and do a little photoshoot to capture some decent pictures of them in their costumes.  Gavin got to wear and play in his costume an extra day, and I got to have fun taking and editing photos of my precious babies.  Win-win.  It also really helped that Eric's new job allows him to be home at a decent time most days so he could help me actually execute the shoot.  I definitely would not have enjoyed the process much without his help!  I might not have even tried.  (Again, lazy).  

I really love how the photos turned out.  I am so very happy I did an early costume photo shoot this year.  I will definitely try and do this annually because it was so worth it.  I might even offer to do them for my friends and their kids too - it was that much fun.  I love seeing kids in their costumes, and I love taking and editing photos... So there you have it - let me know if you want in!

On Halloween night, we drove down to our old neighborhood in Gilbert to have dinner with friends and trick-or-treat.  With Gavin's love for Halloween and him finally being at an age where he can truly enjoy it and knew what to do and what it was all about, etc, I wanted him to be able to have the full experience and enjoy houses that I knew would be decked-out in spooky Halloween decor. I wasn't sure if there would be anything like that up here in Payson.  As far as I had heard, there weren't too many great places to go, (I have since learned that is not the case so maybe next year we'll try staying up here instead. Who knows?).  I knew there was a town "Trunk or Treat", but I was told it gets really busy and that I probably wouldn't like it, and I wanted houses on Halloween night!  So down to the valley we went.  It was well worth it, in my opinion.  Eric had to stay up north because he was on call at the hospital; so unfortunately he wasn't able to join us.  That sucked.  But, my brother, Garrett, was able to come down with us, and that made it fun for Gavin (and it was nice for me to not be alone!).  

Gavin had so much fun trick-or-treating!  He did last year too, but this year takes the cake.  He ran up to each house and squealed "Trick or Treat!" with all his might.  He was always sure to say "Thank you!" and "Happy Halloween!" to everyone as well. He was so excited.  At one point, as we were walking between houses and no one else was really even around us, he exclaimed happily "Happy Halloween, everybody!" and Garrett and I died laughing.  It was adorable.  I love how full of life and spunky my boy is.  I don't want that passion and fire in him to ever die. 

He always stopped to admire the decorations, of course...  "Oh look at that ghost!"; "Wow! That's a skeleton!"; "That's a huge cat!"; "...What's that?".  Every time he asked what something was, the song "What's This?" from Nightmare Before Christmas would pop into my head and make me chuckle.

Everyone loved his costume and his enthusiastic greeting at their house.  I heard quite a few people say "You are the reason I love Halloween."  - which made me smile.  There were a few times where he would reach into a bowl to grab a piece of candy, and the person handing it out would declare that he could take a couple pieces, and Gavin would correct them and say "No, only ONE!" - Haha! One guy was so impressed with that, he handed me an extra piece of candy and said "He definitely earned more! I've never heard a kid turn down extra candy like that. That was awesome."  It was really funny. 

The whole night was perfect.  We got to see old friends, the weather was great, the houses and decorations were fantastic, we went to a neighborhood that wasn't too busy or too dead, Gavin was THRILLED, and even Gentry was enjoying and fascinated with all that was going on.  So much so that he didn't want to sit in his car seat in the stroller - I had to carry him the entire time so he had a better view!  I am so glad I had my Tula Carrier with me, but I even had to take him out of that so he could see better.  I am definitely going to get a front-facing baby carrier soon.  He's just one of those babies that demands to see and be part of all the action.  ...Which is fine by me!

I hope everyone else had a fun and safe Halloween this year!  Now I am ready to hurry up and eat some Turkey so I can put up my Christmas decorations!  I am usually a stickler about not putting up Christmas decorations before Thanksgiving; however, now that I have young kids who love the holidays, and especially because I have a son who was born on Christmas day, I am super tempted to put up my tree right now!  We will see if I have the self-control to wait.... Stay tuned I guess!  

Yes I said “ebola.”

I had the intention of just letting Gavin “decorate” his pumpkin with stickers and paint, etc... but of course he saw us carving our pumpkins and wanted nothing to do with paint or stickers and wanted a knife! So he picked out what pattern he wanted (a cat) and we went to cutting. Or I guess I should say I did the cutting while he watched. He really liked taking his spoon/shovel and getting all the pumpkin guts out though! It was cool to see him want to be part of it. My baby boy is growing up. Perhaps next year he can cut one completely on his own.

About five years ago, after suffering for many years with my family feeling robbed of our holiday season joy, I decided I was done pouting and wanted to REALLY embrace the holiday spirit again.

With October and Halloween being one of my favorite seasons of the year, I decided to start a family tradition where we would all go to a pumpkin patch and pick out pumpkins, and afterward have a pumpkin carving party. It’s hardly a “unique” tradition, as I know many families do the exact same thing... but it felt special and exciting to me because of the many years that had gone by without us doing really ANY family holiday traditions, due to some extreme sorrow and trauma our family had been enduring.

I’ve learned over the years that when things in your life aren’t going so great, you can either wallow in your self-pitty and suffer the consequences from that garbage mindset, or you can take the bull by the horns and create your own happiness and future destiny by just putting one foot in front of the other, and make the most of what you’ve got, and find the beauty in the little victories and small blessings.

Well here we are now, 6 years later, still enjoying our Pumpkin Patch and Pumpkin Carving tradition! Even though not everyone has been able to join us each year, it’s always worth it to me and I am grateful for the memories - especially now that I have children. And of course I wouldn’t be me if I didn’t take a zillion pictures at these gatherings! So here they are!

​We went to MacDonald Ranch in north Scottsdale - where we typically go every year. It was 90 degrees that day and therefore WAY hotter than I am used to now that we live up in the mountains. Next year we might try a different ranch up north to keep things cool; and just to try something different in general.

The first thing we did when we first got to the ranch was let Gavin ride the horses! It’s my favorite part, of course! And it was Gavin’s very first time so that made it extra exciting!

That last photo of Gavin kissing his horse good-bye is probably my favorite shot from the whole day!

​Being a world-champion equestrian, I was super proud to see my son on a horse and how happy his face was while up there! He looked so pleased with himself. I love that my son is brave and not afraid to try new and daring things. I hope I can teach all of my children not to be afraid of horses (and how to ride them!). It’s still on my bucket list to own a ranch and teach kids horseback riding lessons! Some day....

It was so fun having Garrett and Jason join us for the first time this year now that they both live in Arizona. Garrett was with us the very first year we went but hasn’t been since and it was great to have him back! Gavin loves his uncles so much and had a lot of fun playing with them, as always. I am so happy they live near us now so they can be here for these special occasions. I wish more of our family could have been there this year but many moved out of state or just couldn't make it. Hopefully next year we will have a bigger group again. Either way, we had a great time again this year.

After the horseback riding, we headed over to pan for gold. Gavin was so cute and really enjoyed finding the "treasures” with his daddy. He proudly carried around that little bag of gold for the rest of the day. Kids make little things like that so fun!

After we panned for gold, we headed over to the petting zoo. Gavin really loved feeding the goats and brushing the animals. He especially loved it when the goats snagged the ice cream cones from him! I think having kids around animals is so important. I can't wait to have a backyard again and hopefully enough land to finally put some animals on. I would love to own horses again. I could see us owning chickens and goats too. Ahhh one can dream.

After the petting zoo we let Gavin play some of the games; had a quick lunch break where we ate yummy Pulled Pork BBQ Sandwiches; wandered through the hay maze; and then finally made it over to the pumpkin patch to pick out our pumpkins.

I think Garrett's favorite part at the ranch was the photo props. He rushed over to each one he saw to take a photo. It made all of us laugh - his enthusiasm is contagious. I love that he gets excited over simple things like I do. He’s like having a big kid around! We tried getting Gavin into it too, and at first he wanted nothing to do with it, but once he saw all the fun Uncle Garrett was having he finally decided he wanted to be part of the action too. It is funny how a 3 year old's mind works like that! Total "fear of missing out." Haha.

It was cute seeing Gavin go through the hay maze this year. Two years ago he had no clue what was going on or where to go or what to do - pretty much just followed whoever was in front of him. This year however Gavin was pretty good at finding his way through it and even had fun jumping around on top of the haybales.

Halloween is Gavin's favorite holiday so every time he saw pumpkins or scarecrows he got really excited and wanted his picture with them. I love his enthusiasm for the holidays (and just his enthusiasm in general - he is such a fun kid). It's hard not to take a million photos when there are so many great photo opportunities and special moments everywhere I turn!

On our way to the pumpkin patch this year we took the wagon hay ride instead of the train like we usually do. It was a really busy Saturday at the farm and we didn’t want to wait for it, and honestly, I thought the wagon was more fun! Not that the train isn’t fun too, but it wasn’t a big deal to miss it this year.

The boys had fun picking out pumpkins. Gentry was especially fascinated with them. Gavin loves pumpkins and all that stuff so he could have stayed there all day if we let him.

We picked out a full barrel’s worth of pumpkins and went home. We did our pumpkin carving party the next day (that’ll be another post!). I am looking forward to next year where Gentry will be walking and able to participate with his big brother.

Hope everyone has been having a great October and start to their holiday season!

It’s Fall, my favorite time of year... and the cold weather requires lots of comfort food, so it’s also my favorite time of year to cook! I know it’s basic to talk about how much we love pumpkins in the Fall, but I am not ashamed! I love cozy sweaters, pumpkins, fuzzy blankets, and cold nights cuddled up watching a movie. I especially love all the holidays and fun traditions with family and friends.... Hence this blog post! I am by no means a “food blogger”, nor do I pretend to be... But I make this yummy Fall Salad with Creamy Pumpkin Dressing every year and I always get asked “what’s in it?”. So I figured I would go ahead and share it with all of you!

As with any salad, the exact ingredients you throw in with the greens can be flexible. I’ll list what I typically include and you can tweak according to your taste bud preferences. And if you add something awesome that I need to implement going forward please share by commenting below!

The real star of this salad, of course, is the Pumpkin Dressing! It is a dynamic mix of tangy and sweet, and I love it so much I wish I could eat it by the spoonful (and may or may not have given into that indulgence once or twice!).

I typically use Acorn Squash for this salad, but at the time of this post I used Sweet Potatoes instead because it’s what I had on hand and it turned out just as delicious. So if you’re not a huge fan of Squash and/or don’t feel like making an extra trip to the grocery store, the Sweet Potatoes are an amazing substitute. Just peel and chop them up into bite size squares. Throw them in a mixing bowl and coat well with Olive Oil, Maple Syrup, and Cinnamon, with a dash of Oregano, Salt, and Pepper... Then place them evenly on a cookie sheet and throw them in the oven!

As for the dressing, just throw all the ingredients in a blender and purée them together. I like to work on making the dressing as the Squash/Sweet Potatoes bake in the oven. It’s so easy!

Full ingredients list and cooking directions below. I love serving this alongside a Roast or Grilled Chicken. It’s a great side dish at Thanksgiving as well.

Enjoy!!
​

I’ve always cherished photos and photography. Mostly from a journalistic standpoint...

This year we used Mikaela Durfee Photography for our family photos. She is based up here in Payson and is very talented and sweet as can be. She does a great job of capturing the moment and the surrounding scenery; and, of course, has a natural editing style that I love. As fun and creative as some of the more popular, heavily-edited styles with props, etc. can be, I always find myself leaning toward the more natural look.  All about that authenticity!

We did a mini-shoot with Mikaela and got some great images I will forever value (and can’t wait to frame!). Gentry is 9 months old in these photos and Gavin is 37 months old (barely 3).

I still can’t believe we moved to Payson and have been here for almost an entire year already. I also can’t believe Gentry is approaching his 1st Birthday soon and Gavin turned 3 this past summer. And I am still shocked and adjusting to how different so many aspects of my life look right now compared to one year ago! It is true when they say “the days are long but the years are short”. And, as my dad likes to say, “What’s true today may not be true tomorrow.” Meaning: You just never know how things might change! Life is constantly ever-changing...

People keep asking me, “How are you liking Payson? How long are you guys planning on staying up there? Are you going to buy a house or continue to rent? Are you going to have more kids soon?”... And it’s so hard to answer all of these questions!

We love a lot about Payson:  The weather and climate, Eric’s job and the extra family time we get to spend together, the simpler lifestyle, and a lot of the people we have met. I don’t see us leaving anytime soon.

As much as I miss a lot of the people and resources we left down in the valley, I just can’t imagine going back to Eric working 12-24 hour shifts every day and working 60+ hour work weeks. He was NEVER home! I might as well have been a single mom... It was not good for us in so many ways. It’s easier to see now, looking back, just how bad and damaging it was for our marriage and family dynamic. There is no way I will allow that for our family ever again if I can help it. Plus now that I have been spoiled with the amazing mountain weather, I definitely don’t want to go back to the heat!  

But, like my dad’s quote, who knows what things will look like for us a year from now? Anything could happen... For now though, our plan is to stay up here in the mountains and enjoy being more intimately involved with nature and the wildlife; and, most importantly, each other.

”The greatest, most important work you will ever do is within the walls of your own home.”

Our little Gavin turned 3!! (I know, still can’t believe it!), and we threw him a Shark themed Pool Party!

We had such a good turnout... practically every single one of our invitees made it over to celebrate! We went down to Gilbert for it since we still haven’t made a whole lot of friends up in Payson, (and specifically Gavin hasn’t made any buddies up here just yet). So we threw a little pool in the valley in our old neighborhood with all of Gavin’s friends and cousins, and it did not disappoint!

We swam with sharks; ate pizza, watermelon, and an awesome shark cake; and had a blast surrounded by a lot of people we love and miss living around the corner from. Gavin was so excited he hardly ever got out of the pool except for a quick pizza break and then once again when he saw his cake.

He loved his shark cake so much he was absolutely giddy. This was his first Birthday where he actually understood what a Birthday Party was and he could tell it was all about him. It was exciting as a parent to see him so excited about his Birthday.

Gentry was pretty stoked about getting to try some of his brother’s cake also and kept reaching for his fork for more! It was so cute.

Thank you to everyone who came and helped make Gavin’s Birthday Party special. We love and miss all of you! I tried getting pictures of everyone who came, sorry if I missed you! And sorry for the extreme heat haha... Next year we will either keep his party up north where it is naturally cooler, or pay for air conditioning somewhere!

The pool party took place on a Saturday, a day before his actual Birthday. So the next day we surprised him in the morning with some balloons, a donut breakfast, and opened all of his Birthday presents. He again was really enthusiastic about all the decorations and excitement over turning a year older. We even had a Mr Incredible posterboard cutout from a few months prior we put out so Mr Incredible could wish him a Happy Birthday that morning.

We sang Happy Birthday again and let him blow out some candles on his Birthday donut. We FaceTimed with family out of town and overall had another great day making Gavin feel special. I still can’t believe he is three years old now. Seems like just yesterday my water broke at 3am and I started the process of becoming a mom.

We like to spend our money on experiences rather than gifts for our anniversaries, so back in May, to celebrate our 6 year anniversary, we took the boys to the beach!

We found a perfect condo just half a block back from the sand at Mission Beach in San Diego. Drove up on a Sunday and came back on a Wednesday. I am glad we were able to spend time there during the week instead of over the weekend because it was WAY less crowded that way! I love that Eric’s new work schedule allows us to take family trips during the week like that.

The weather was great! It was a little chilly in the mornings, but the sun always came out before lunchtime and warmed us all up. It was Gavin’s (and Gentry’s) first time at the beach and he totally loved it - especially running away from the waves and playing in the sand. I think our next beach trip will be to the East Coast though because the water is so much warmer there. The Pacific is just way too cold in my opinion... Cold enough that none of us to wanted to get in the water more than just enough to get our feet wet. We spent one morning on the sound side to see how Gavin liked it without the waves and he did get fully submerged while over there; but on the ocean side we pretty much just played in the sand.

We enjoyed yummy Sushi and Pho and packed picnic lunches to the beach each day. I loved having the Condo so we could just eat lunch there and do laundry as needed. I feel like VRBO is a must when traveling with little kids.

Bringing babies to the beach requires lugging around a lot of equipment, but because our condo was so close to the beach it was totally painless. Next time I definitely want to have one of those wagons with huge wheels though to lug around our stuff through the sand. My stroller could only hold so much and it wasn’t super beach sand friendly haha.

On our way home we drove up to La Jolla to show the Seals to the boys, had a yummy Poké lunch, and stopped by the San Diego Temple before making the official journey home. It was a great way to end the trip.

Here are some photos from our little family adventure! Can’t wait to go to the beach again!

The first time I saw him “eating” off of it I noticed one of the pegs was missing. I figured it had just fallen off somehow in the past and again thought nothing of it and continued on with my morning routine.

Maybe about and hour later I was sitting in the kitchen when Gavin approached me once again with this steamer dish “plate” and again was pretending to eat off of it... Although THIS TIME I see that a SECOND peg is now missing, and I just happened simultaneously notice it was in Gavin’s mouth! *insert terrorized emoji*

I quickly told him to “Spit it out!” and reached to try and grab him to fish it out of his mouth, but I wasn’t quick and just as I reached for him he stepped back and out of my grasp and intentionally SWALLOWED the metal peg right before my eyes before I could take it away from him!

I immediately messaged my husband with a photo of the steamer and explained what had happened because I didn’t know what to do! Of course, to my dismay, he informed me I needed to take him to the emergency room. I knew this day would come but I wasn’t prepared for it!

So I begrudgingly loaded up both the boys into the car and drove to the hospital. They escorted us back and explained they needed to take x-rays to confirm how many metal pegs were swallowed and make sure they hadn’t punctured anything internal. I was so scared but so grateful Eric was able to step away from the OR to come back and comfort us during the process.

Gavin thought everything was pretty interesting at first but then quickly decided he was not very happy about being in the hospital and being confined to a bed with a crappy TV that didn’t have any of his favorite shows or movies. The machines were starting to give him “this is not good” vibes. He was nervous about the x-ray machine and had a hard time sitting still for it but Eric was able to lay next to him and help hold him during the process and comfort him; it was a really sweet and tender moment. It helped Gavin a lot having his Daddy there, (and it helped me out too)! It was really neat getting to see Eric in his element and helping Gavin feel better during all the scary stuff. One of Eric’s coworkers came back to check on us too which I thought was very kind and thoughtful

Luckily we were able to confirm he had only swallowed the one metal peg and nothing internally had perforated so we were told to just “let it pass” and keep an eye on him for a few days. I was pretty nervous over that weekend, but sure enough, 2 days later it came out! *whew* I am so grateful the whole thing didn’t end up being in any way detrimental to Gavin’s health or safety! A huge blessing, indeed!

Hopefully we don’t have to visit the ER again anytime soon! ...and that veggie steamer immediately found its way to the trash can when we got home. :)

Even though we didn’t get to spend Easter with any family, we had a lovely day! It was Gentry’s first Easter and Gavin’s first time actually understanding and really getting into the whole egg hunting thing.

We had a big Keto waffle breakfast that Eric made for us. Then we hid all of the Easter eggs around the front yard before setting Gavin loose! He immediately went to town searching everywhere for them. Some of them were really obvious and easy but I was impressed with how well he found the harder ones. It was fun watching his excitement each time he found one (and then discovered there was candy hidden inside!). It was a fun way to spend the morning before General Conference started.

I made a nice dinner and we just spent some quality time together at home watching and listening to General Conference. Gavin spent the entire day playing with his Easter eggs and bucket. I look forward to next year when Gentry is able to hunt for eggs too and we’ll have family able to spend the day with us.