A Little Catch-up and a Snow Day!

It's been a little while since I have blogged, so we'll play catch-up before we get to our snow day. Since Christmas, we have just been 'hanging around.' Not literally, of course. lol. The boys got haircuts from Mark. He's a funny guy when it comes to the boys and their hair. He always gives them these awesome doos and takes pictures before he gives them a real haircut. Taylor got a mullet this year. Sweet! Austyn lucked out on the blackmail pictures this year. Mark went back to work for half of the week and had the rest off due to the New Year. Our New Year's plans were to hang out with our old neighbors, the Villasenors, but that didn't really happen. The night before I had a really bad pain in my side and couldn't sleep. I tossed and turned all night long, only to wake up tired and still in pain. I did a little bit of housework and decided I really should go in to the hospital. I went in at about 11 am and finally came home by about 6:30 pm. It was a very long day, by myself. Mark and the kids stayed home, which was fine. I didn't want them sitting there, bored out of their minds for that entire day. I wasn't allowed to eat or drink anything the entire day and needless to say, I was starving! The did a urine analysis and blood work before they did anything else. Those all came back normal, so they decided that a pelvic exam was necessary. That didn't really reveal much else, other than that my pain wasn't exactly where my ovaries are, so that meant a CT scan. I had to drink this chunky, chalky, really thick berry tasting drink. Not just a little bit either. I had to drink TWO QUARTS of the stuff! It was awful and I had to wait 2 hours before I could get the scan. I finally was able to get the scan and just so happened to know the guy who was doing it. I coached his son in soccer. So, when the scan was done he actually let me look at it. It was really cool to be able to see my internal organs like that. Mark finally decided to come to my aid after the scan. They said it wasn't appendicitis and I wouldn't need surgery! WHEW! And it wasn't an ectopic pregnancy, another whew! So, in the end after a full day's worth of hospital gossip, being poked and prodded, they still don't know what was causing the pain. Lovely. Oh, and did I mention that they poked me once and broke the needle, poked me again and then poked me a 3rd time for an IV! Man! My arms were hurting for a few days. They think it may have been ovarian cysts but it was too soon to know! SSHEESH! The pain finally has subsided, but I still get an ache every so often. I spent the night at home with the kids and was knocked out before 9pm! Mark spent a few hours at our friend's house and then came home, only to fall asleep on the sofa before midnight! I woke up and told Mark to get up, we had 9 minutes to the New Year. Well, we turned on the TV, and we only had 10 seconds left! I guess our clock is a little slow. We caught the ball dropping, said happy new year and went to bed. We are such a lively bunch!
Okay, so our snow day! We had a blast. We drove up to the Sequoias on Saturday. Our friends, the Quintanas had invited us to go along, so we did. We brought snow boogies and our snow gear. We played in the snow for a couple of hours or so before we headed for food and shelter. The kids had a blast. I think Austyn had the most fun. He didn't show an ounce of fear and was taking off down those hills so fast! He scares me. Our lunch was okay. Our server wasn't the most pleasant, and she definitely didn't work for her $11 gratuity that was included. She never asked us if we needed anything else, or if everything was okay. My sandwich was supposed to have mozzarella cheese, but looked as though they threw a few shreds of cheese on it and called it a day. She brought us our check without even asking if we wanted any more food. We were all on E with our beverages and practically had to beg for a refill. She could have been better to us, but maybe its because we were young, and had 6 kids. The kids were actually great and were quiet and ate most of their food. Once the older crowds came in she suddenly perked up! Damn those old people. Just kidding.
After lunch we headed over to see the General Grant Tree which is amazing. Sure its JUST a really big tree. But its a REALLY BIG tree! Massive actually. It made me feel like a tiny speck of sand. The kids didn't really grasp the magnitude of the situation, but they'll appreciate it in their later years. The trail leading up to the General was steep and slick in some places and the kids took full advantage of that, sliding down on the snow sled boogie things. After we oohed and aahed over the beautiful trees, we headed to a campsite with a pretty steep incline. Austyn almost gave me a heart attack. He got out of the car, grabbed a sled, hopped on and zoomed down that hill so fast. It wasn't that bad until we realized that he was headed straight for a tree!!! Next to that tree was a steel, bear proof food storage locker! We screamed and yelled for him to stop, but he wasn't about to. It could have been a disastrous moment in time, but thank God, it ended well. I ran as fast as I could down the hill, only to trip about 3 feet away from him. I face-planted in the snow. (Laugh it up, I'm sure it was a sight to be seen!) He just missed the tree and the locker. He managed to go in between the two. The space was only a few feet wide. Jesse decided that he should stand at the bottom of the hill and stop all speeding children. That was okay with all of us! I must say, it was a great hill. The bigger kids took turns going down the hill, while Ryleigh and Kyle (the babies) took one spin and they were spent. The adults took a few turns down the hill as well. Austyn almost had a second disastrous moment when he just kept on sliding and Jesse tackled him a few feet short of a creek! That boy is going to be trouble when he's older, I just know it. All in all, it was a great day and I think its safe to say that we all had a blast! Enjoy the slide show of pictures.