State Fair - Oct 2013

We went to the state fair twice this past October.  I had another post several months ago about the one with Darrell.  This trip as with my sister Stephanie and my sister-in-law Hailie and their kids.

My girls can never pass up a merry-go-round:)

Emily LOVES to be dizzy.  She can spin around for minutes and not get sick.  She and Sarah went on the tea cups.  Emily controlled the spinning.  They were going so fast, the attendant said he could slow it down if I wanted him to.  Sarah looked like she was going to loose her stomach contents.

It was a very warm day, and there was a part of the fair that was indoors with kids activities.  It was a relief to be out of the sun for a while.

Probably the most fun part of the adventure was the petting zoo.  The petting zoo was very clean.  My favorite animal was the little baby wallaby.

ITP - Jan 2014

On day in January Sarah woke up and I noticed her legs looked bruised way more than normal.  Of course kids fall and get bruises, but this was a little excessive.  Emily had been learning to ride her bike and falling a lot so I had her come in so I could compare their legs.  Then I knew it wasn't normal because Emily's legs looked fine.  I sent pictures to Darrell and he wanted her to come in for some blood work.  She was very brave for her blood test.  What he and the other physicians said was she had ITP (short for Idiopathic thrombocytopenic purpura)  Basically a rare auto immune reaction to a virus which causes platelet counts to drop...thus the bruising, because her blood cannot clot normally.  Normal platelet counts are above 100,000...her results came back with a count of 9,000.  Since there was no active bleeding we just had to watch and make sure she didn't injure herself seriously.  We would't let her do anything hardly which made for a very sad girl:(  She has since gotten better.  The bruises have all gone and she is now happily jumping, running, and riding her bike.  Such a very odd experience but luckily short lived.

The one on the right looked like a "smily" face on her arm

She not only had these bruises on her body, but she had spots in her mouth and on her tongue.  Her gums were red too.  She like being excused from teeth brushing for a few days while her mouth healed:)

Halloween - Oct 2013

For Halloween this past year, Derek was a cowboy, Emily a princess, and Sarah a witch.  A very cute little witch:) 

They also decorated the car for our church trunk-or-trey.  We all sat outside on the driveway and colored pictures and then taped them to the car.  It was a fun afternoon activity.

Gilbert Temple - Feb 2014

We visited the Gilbert Temple during the open house.  It was a warm day with a lot of waiting, but it was worth it.  It was so gorgeous inside.  Amazing chandeliers, tons of mirrors, beautiful stained glass, and more.  Emily LOVED the chandeliers and would look at them for as long as she could as she walked out of the rooms.

The fountains outside are wonderful to look at and listen to.  I would love to visit again when it is quiet, without tons of visitors.