Our Crazy weekend...

Ashley, Jake and their family and my parents and Austin all came to St. George for the weekend for family pictures. We were going to get them done a month ago but that is when Grace got RSV and we had to postpone them. So Saturday morning, Josh watched the munchkins and Ashley and I were off to the salon to get our hair colored and done. We had a blast! It was so nice to sit and have someone do your hair and you aren't having to chase after kids! Ashley and I had the first conversation in a long time that wasn't interrupted by "Don't touch that!" or "Hang on a minute... (in the background..."I am on the phone, when I am done I will talk to you.") I went all blonde and Ashley got highlights and the cutest haircut. When we finished, we headed over to Nana and Pop Pop's so the kids could play and then spent the rest of the time trying to get them ready one by one. It is a tricky thing to know when to actually get them dressed and their hair done. You walk a fine line...too early and there is stuff spilled on their clean clothes and they suddenly have the desire to rub their heads all over the carpet and end up with static cling! Too late, and of course you are in a mad dash and you end up a mess at picture time! My sweet friend Kellie was our photographer. She is absolutely amazing. She is one busy girl and for good reason! We met her at the red rocks and of course so did the wind! We tried to juggle wind and getting Hayden to smile the entire time. Hopefully Kellie will still want to claim she knows me!

Saturday was also my Dad's birthday! So after pictures were over we headed back over to my parents house and Ash and I made dinner. We had cake, opened presents and had a great time! My dad is amazing. He really is. He is my hero. He is the best father in the world and is an awesome Pop Pop. He works so hard...and yet always makes time for his family. Growing up I always knew I wanted to marry someone who loved me the way my Dad does, completely unconditionally. He always understood me...even when I didn't understand myself. (Gotta love those awkward teenage years!) He is always ready with a joke. He is the strongest person I know. He does so much and a lot of it is stuff that goes unnoticed. We love to tease him but we wouldn't be the same without him! LOVE YOU DAD!

Sunday morning I woke up to feed Grace and looked in the mirror only to find that my left eye was red and watery. It was icing on the cake to all of the stuff we have been through in the last little bit. So I fed Grace and went to work putting all of my stuff together for Josh to take to church with him to give to the presidency. Since our ward meets so early, there was no way of giving a heads up for church and I was feeling horrible. I am not sure if it was an eye infection, or my eye got scratched because of all of the sand in the wind the day before getting stuck in my contact, or an allergic reaction. But yesterday I got a phone call from the compassionate service coordinator and the secretary in the Relief Society...all calling to see how I was doing...and to let me know that they were again bringing in dinner for our family. I told them they didn't need to worry about it and that they had already done so much between dinners when Grace was born, more dinners when she was in the hospital, and that we would be fine. They told me it was already arranged. So I told them that as soon as we get our act together to sign me up for every dinner anyone needs in the ward. We have an amazing ward, we really do. I have never seen a ward that is so concerned for each other and their well being. I know that is what our church is all about but our ward goes above and beyond. We feel very luck to be a part of it. I just hope that we can finally all get better and get it together. I am so ready to put this horrible winter behind us and get into spring so I can finally breathe. I have been holding my breath since the moment Grace got sick and it would be nice to exhale. I am afraid that if I do too soon, she will end up sick again. So bring on Spring...I am ready for it! A germaphobe like myself really hates winter!