Lagoon - Its where fun is!

Every year for Christmas, Grandpa Todd gives us Lagoon passes.... And boy do we get our use out of them. The kids absolutely LOVE going on the rides and being able to be as loud as they want. The last time we took the kids to Lagoon in 2013 was in October for Frightmares, when Lagoon is "haunted". Kingston thought all of the picture props were hilarious and he loved it when Dad held him up to take pictures in them. Maycie's favorite ride this year was the whale ride, and Kingston's favorite ride was the jeeps.

During Frightmares, the kids bumper cars ride is turned into a trick or treat alley. They have the workers dressed up as different characters for Halloween and before they give the kids candy they teach them a safety rule for trick or treating on Halloween. The kids love being able to have their own bag of candy, but are usually a little bit afraid of the people dressed up.

Some of the other rides that the kids love are the swings, the boat ride, the merry-go-round, and the spaceships ride.

Kasen is 1 Month!

I can't believe we've already had Kasen in our lives for an entire month. He is undoubtedly one of our Heavenly Father's most precious angels. Maycie and Kingston don't exactly think he is the most fun thing, but Mommy and Daddy could not be any more proud of him. Kasen is such an easy going baby; he is constantly watching the world around him and always has a happy face on. He loves to suck on his hands and to roll from side to side although we think it will be awhile before he rolls completely over. Kasen sleeps from 10:00 pm to 9:30 am and takes a four hour nap during the middle of the day. He still has the cutest little crooked toes we've ever seen and can't wait until he starts sucking on them. Kasen has truly been a joy in our lives for the last month and we can't wait for eternity with him.

Lots of Visitors

With Kasen being born, and also having the surgeries, we had a lot of visitors for a few weeks. All of the grandparents stopped by nearly once a day which the kids LOVED! I wasn't able to pick up the kids at all for a week and a half, so we also had people from our ward coming over a lot to get the kids in and out of their cribs or high chairs. Here are a few pictures with some of our visitors.

Kasen's First Day at Church

When Kasen was born, several virus' were going around so we decided to wait 3 weeks before taking him to church so that his immune system was built up at least a little bit. We were very proud that we were able to get all of us fed, dressed, and ready to go to church on time... even though our church is at 1:00 pm. And I ended up loving my boys in the bow ties I made them!

Tori's Surgeries

Having three pregnancies right in a row with no break was really hard on my body. Through both Maycie's and Kasen's pregnancies I was hospitalized twice because of what we thought was a kidney infection and kidney stones. When the 4th time in the hospital came around, we decided to start working with a general surgeon. I went to Doctor Todd Russell and he said that he thought I had a hernia and chronic appendicitis. The reason everyone had trouble diagnosing the appendicitis is because "Chronic Appendicitis" is apparently pretty rare and hard to diagnose. Chronic appendicitis is a disorder caused by inflammation of the appendix over a period of time, that reoccurs until surgically dealt with. Often, individuals with chronic appendicitis are undiagnosed until an episode of appendicitis occurs, resulting in symptoms that progress in severity. Diagnosing chronic appendicitis can be difficult because the symptoms are severe but individuals with chronic appendicitis often become used to the abdominal pain and discomfort. Left untreated, chronic appendicitis can lead to life-threatening complications such as a ruptured appendix and infection that spreads to other parts of the body. So when we finally decided this was the cause, Doctor Todd decided on surgery. I had the surgery two and a half weeks after delivering Kasen, which was hard on my body, but much better than continually having pain and being in and out of the hospital. These pictures are the last pictures I have of me with my appendix still. The hernia ended up being about 6 inches long, stretching from the middle of my rib cage to my belly button. When they put the band on me to find a good vein, my arm turned very "hulk-like" as you can tell by the picture.

I tried to nurse while I was in the hospital, which was really tricky. After they had me hooked up to the IV's and monitors, nursing got even trickier. At one point Kasen got all tangled up in all the cords and I had to get two different nurses to help me untangle him. We got a good laugh out of it because it seemed as though I was delivering him again... but out of my side this time. Ha.