Bugs

So the bug guy just left. He sprayed the door frames, the entire perimeter of the house, the windows, the rocks, the edges of the burms and then came inside to spray the molding and under bathroom sinks and in closets.
We've never had anyone spray before and it's kind of pricey (we signed a contract, ugh) but we thought it might be time because of this horrific event that gives me nightmares.

What is it?

The other night while I was blow drying Afton's hair I felt something at the back of her head. I thought what in the heck could possibly be in her nicely cleaned hair? So I pulled her hair up and guess what I saw???

A TICK!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

OH MY GOSH.....

I am shuddering now just thinking about it. I cannot get the image out of my brain and you should all be lucky I was way too freaked out to take any pictures because you would be haunted too!

I tried once to pull it out but it wasn't budging so I calmly (not really but I tried) ran to the stairs and yelled for Brett. He came up and by now Afton was a little scared. Long story short, we called my mom because...

and she said to pull it straight out with tweezers and that if we couldn't do it, she would come over.
I couldn't imagine that thing on my child for one more second so I told Brett to just do it. Brett was voting for the emergency room but we couldn't wait that long. We finally had to pin Afton down and Brett pulled it straight out. As I doused the little spot in Rubbing Alcohol and then Neosporin Brett burned the little bugger. AK fell right asleep and hasn't said a word about it since. Granted she had no idea what was really back there!

While she was falling asleep safely in Daddy's arms, I tore through her room vacuuming and turning sheets inside out. I threw everything she and Brett were wearing into the washer and even at 1:00 in the morning I kept sneaking back into her room to run my fingers through her hair.

When I talked to a nurse the next morning she asked where we'd been. In the last week we'd been hiking, at the farm, on the Jordan River Parkway trail and in our own backyard. She kind of laughed. It better not have been on her for a week. It couldn't have been - I am always running my fingers through her hair!

So we've sprayed, I'm still traumatized, and we're off to Moab in the morning. If I see another tick....

Knowledge

My brother's family is going through something difficult and our thoughts and prayers are with them.Yesterday Afton and I were talking about it and at one point she looked up at me and said, don't worry mommy, Jesus will keep him safe.

It brought tears to my eyes. She was so sure of herself and matter of fact I thought she must KNOW something. I love her sweet little spirit and I am grateful for her love of Jesus.

I know everything will be alright but we'll continue to pray and support however we can.

We love you guys!

Easter

Easter was a lot of fun this year.

Last year I had Easter eggs filled with stickers and fuzzy yellow chicks, I had an informative little board book explaining why Jesus died and how he came back to life. I had dye for eggs and a whole bag full of other stuff.

Luckily it was all just fine in storage for a year and I was able to use it all this year. I did add a few things to the eggs (candy) and gave her the book before Easter so we could read and learn. At one point as we were talking about going to Grandma Sandy's for dinner we explained there would be an Easter egg hunt but the real reason we were going was to celebrate Jesus. Afton looked at us and said, Will Jesus be there?
I love her little mind and her sweet spirit. She loves to talk about Jesus!

She ended up taking the little book to my parents and she and my mom and dad read it about 10 times!

The night before Easter I put some glow sticks in some of the eggs and Afton had a blast finding glow in the dark eggs. She would find them all and then tell me she was leaving the room so I could hide them again!!!

Easter morning Afton found a basket containing a little Barbie mermaid, a huge flower pinwheel, a stuffed bunny and chick, and 2 new toothbrushes. After that we decorated eggs and made sugar cookies before heading off to my mom's house!

 

Earlier this week my mom met us at Old Navy and Afton was able to choose her Easter dress. She loved this yellow one immediately and was excited to wear it on Easter!

 

Later that night we went to the Keetch's for an Easter egg hunt and dessert!

Easter hike and little birdy!

My little family loves to hike. We love the fresh air, we love the exercise, we love the sagebrush, trees, plants, lizards, birds, and everything else that goes along with being outdoors.

Afton especially loves to hike. She will go and go and go, collecting walking sticks, chasing lizards, smelling sagebrush, and racing up and down the same trail while she waits for daddy to investigate a tree or some moss.

Today was fun because we weren't planning on hiking. We were going for a quick drive to Cedar Fort and as we drove around the rodeo grounds Afton kept saying, let's hike. So we did! We found a little trail and went up and up until we hit a bit of a plateau and then we turned around.

Before we left there was a really pretty bird (still trying to decide what it was) fascinated by it's reflection in our side view mirrors. It would peck at it's reflection in one mirror and then go to the next. It didn't seem to care about proximity so we stayed close watching and laughing.

As we came down the trail we noticed the bird was still there. We got in the car, rolled down the windows and couldn't believe the bird was still right there with us. Afton kept yelling, get away from our car bird! We ended up with some poop, a couple of scratches, and a funny little video.

I didn't have my camera so these are all from my phone!

Martin Sexton

Can I just say for the 100th time that I LOVE Martin Sexton???

He is AMAZING!!!

He is amazing for so many reasons, one being the free concert he put on at the Canyons in Park City!

We loaded up, drove up the canyon and enjoyed a two hour concert! The sun was shining and Afton had so much fun in the beginning dancing in the middle of the crowd but finally decided it was just too loud. (We were about 10 feet away from him.)

Brett and Afton eventually wandered up the little hill next to the stage and she played and played. Every now and then I would wander over to where they were but always ended up back in front of the show. At one point Afton made friends with some little girls and they played on the side of the stage. Afton actually ran onto the stage a couple of times but Brett grabbed her before she got too far away!

I ran into some old friends and had fun talking about what big fans we were back in the day! Hehe

After the show I ran behind the stage and asked for a photo. The last one I had taken was about 10 years ago and my hair was blond (not cute)! He said, yes if you follow me. So of course I did and then a lot of other people starting following as well. We ended up inside and he was being bombarded a bit but turned and said, where's that girl? He saw me and put his arm around me and I was so excited! I even got little Aftee in the picture!

The ride up and down the hill was Afton's favorite part! It was such a beautiful day! 

 Can you even stand how excited I am??? No one else was even paying attention! :) What a dork!

Girl's Day Out

Funny to say girls day out because every day is girl's day for me and Afton! I am so lucky to get to spend all day with my little sweetie. We have so much fun!

The Letter V

Can I just say I am really enjoying joy school? It's not really joy school but a few mom's who trade off teaching each week. We have a schedule and we stick to it pretty closely and the kids seem to have a great time.

This week I had the letter V and decided to talk about vegetables. I have some stuffed vegetables (with faces and they were a big hit) I bought when I was teaching and lots of great books.

We did a lot of fun activities today but the kids were the most excited about painting and planting. We used carrots and celery to create our wonderful paintings and as they were drying we walked out to the garden, gathered up some soil and went back in to plant peas. While planting peas we ate carrots and celery dipped in a little tiny cup filled with ranch dressing!

We did a finger play about carrots growing in the garden, learned a new song about vegetables and spent the last few minutes of the day just playing outside!

BYU Spring Game

Every year Brett gets so excited to see BYU play in the spring. Last year it was freezing and wet so we were excited this year when the sun was shining and everything was dry. Afton loves running around with her cousins and had so much fun after the game throwing around a little football.

Brett's cousin Joe is one of the coaches so we get to hang out and the boys get the inside scoop!