Our Beach Holiday!

*Note- pictures are not in chronological order*

We haven't been to the beach in 3 years. THREE YEARS! So it was time to go. The boys were so excited to go to Oceanside, or as Jaxton called it "Ouch-Inside". We rented a condo that was only about 500 steps from the beach and was nice. Pro's about the condo: Proximity to the ocean, cleanliness, super comfy bed, Amazon Echo (Alexa), Beach view. Con's about the condo: NO AC and it was hot/stuffy/muggy, there was a train track right out back and so we heard the train and horn on and off from about 4:45am-11:30pm, parking was confusing with only 1 assigned spot and 2 guest spots that were first come first serve & only good for 24 hrs. Overall the good outweighed the bad. It was nice to have our own space and not feel like we were intruding on family, but it was a tight squeeze for all 14 of us in a 2bdr 2bath condo. However, having said that, we could have made it work if Jimmy & Andrew & fam had come along. They were missed. 

The big reason we went on this vacation when we did is so that we could be at the beach, one of my moms most favorite places on the 10th anniversary of her passing. She was thought of lots, but being there and being together helped distract all of us. 

I thought that the boys would be afraid of the waves or be bored but they absolutely LOVED the beach. It might be there most favorite place ever. They never complained, and spent so much time digging, playing, running from waves, making up games to play in the water and laughing. It was perfect for them. 

Our set up consisted of A LOT of umbrellas. We got to the beach around 10 every morning and were always able to have a good space

Thursday we walked down to the pier and to the end of it to have lunch at Rubys. Yummy food and yummy milkshakes. Not so much fun walking the mile there and back with sand everywhere. Plus Lucas fell asleep on my back and then I had to carry him. But still good times. 

I did pretty good keeping everyone covered in sunscreen except I missed a spot under Prestons eyes. I thought I was helping him out by keeping it out of his eyes but instead he looked like he'd been in a fight! Other random sunburn spots- part of his back where his shirt came up, the right side of my leg, the top of Patricks head, a strip above Prestons right knee. Overall, not bad at all!

We got to visit with my grandparents while we were there! Always great to see them and catch up. We also got to see Shay and meet her boyfriend Tony & his son Michael and see Nicole and meet her son Walker and her husband Brennan. Everyone was so nice and it was great to be back. 

The weather was nice enough in the evenings that we would go for walks to the park in my grandparents community. 

This was the view from our condo. A girl could get use to this! 

Post beach naps were taken anywhere and everywhere.

Thursday nights is a market down by the pier and so John, Laura and families plus Patrick went to go explore it. They said it was amazing! And they brought me back a chocolate caramel toasted almond croissant which was amazing for me. 

It was pretty warm inside the condo sometimes, so we got a little creative when it came to sleeping. Like air matresses on the roof. Only problem with that was the dew & other moisture in the air meant waking up with a wet pillow/blankets. 

Hitting the waves with my brave boys :) 

 Jaxton was in absolute heaven flying this kite! He has been wanting to fly a kite for months now and he love love loved it. 

Our last day at the beach Lucas crashed and slept for about 2 1/2 hours on the sand. Who can blame him, shady naps with the sound of waves is perfection. 

So long beach. We love and miss you. 

Photo Dump

It's time for a photo dump. If I tried to play catch up on my blog I would be blogging for days. And that's just not going to happen. Instead I'll dump a bunch of photos with a brief description. Also, they probably wont be in chronological order. You get what you get and you don't throw a fit! 

Last Sunday I had to meet with the Bishop after church real quick and so Patrick and the boys had a mini photo shoot. 

When I was in Utah Patrick took the boys on a walk. This pretty much shows their personalities: Preston reading, Jaxton being active, and Lucas just going with the flow. 

T-ball! We have really enjoyed the t-ball season. It started a little rough with Preston having pneumonia and Jaxton refusing to play, but now they love it, and so do we. Jaxton looks adorable in his little outfit! 

Fun times at Krazy Air. Every day that Jaxton doesn't have school he asks to go somewhere fun. Sometimes I can get away with going to the library, but sometimes I have to cave and go somewhere bigger, like Krazy Air. 

I found some roller skates at Savers a few weeks ago. I have so many memories of rollerblading when I was growing up and my boys like to "skate" by putting wooden blocks under their shoes and sliding on the tile. Real skates are a big step up! 

BYU Graduation!!! 

I spy Andrew and Janiece! 

And I got to snuggle lots with Bennett! 

Jimmy and I hiked the Y on my last morning there. Everyone else slept, lazy bums. A lot harder then I thought it would be. And it was freeeezing cold. Oh and just for reference I took a picture of the Y on our way to the airport. I climbed that high! Might as well have climbed Everest. 

Preston is trying to earn some money to buy a little kid friendly video camera so he can take videos of him exploring and hunting for lizards. He has a whole list of extra chores and every day he works on it. 

For my birthday we went to the zoo! It was a beautiful day out. In fact in the evening time it got cold and rained. It NEVER rains on my birthday!! It was a nice relaxing day spent with family. 

My mothers day gift from all my boys. So handsome :) 

Practicing our faces: This is Lucas's scary/angry face

Happy! 

 And Jaxton's happy face!
Makes me laugh every time! 

There we go! Starting fresh all caught up and will try to be better from this point on. 

The worlds longest sickness

Sickness has hit our house. More like crashed into our house, set up shop and refuses to leave. 

It all started Friday, the 5th with Preston.
The days leading up to Friday Preston wasn't looking so great. He had droopy eyes and just looked tired all the time. Friday morning I actually let him sleep in and was just going to take him late to school since he didnt' look well the night before. When he did get up he was SUPER emotional, as in he cried 3 times just while eating and getting dressed, which is unlike him. Then I felt him and he was quite warm. No school and we started tylenol/advil. His only real symptoms were fever, being tired and feeling like he needed to lay down. It lasted through the weekend.

That Sunday Jaxton started running a fever at church, so I figured it was some sort of fever virus and so we kept them cool and calm. Monday they were both feeling well enough to go to school.
Lucas on the other hand started running a fever. 

Before 11 I got a call from Prestons school that he was sick- no fever, but he was pale and said he needed to lay down. Brought him home, fed him and he lay on the couch the rest of the day. About 20 min after I got Preston I got a call from Jaxton's teacher that he was warm and crying and not feeling well. he only had 15 min left of school so she said she would just send him home on the bus like normal. 

He got home, had a fever and kept telling me he just didn't feel good.
By that afternoon his eyes started looking weepy. Ugh.
I took him to urgent care that night and he had double pink eye and a double ear infection. 

So sad when he just keeps crying asking me to take him back to the doctor so he can feel better :( 

He was taking augmentin for his infections, which he has had several times before with no problems but Wednesday he started having a reaction. I thought at first he was just getting bit by a mosquito b/c he attracts them and it's been warm out. But then they started swelling up big and I knew it was something else. Hives.
I called the pharmacy and asked if it could be a reaction to the prescription since nothing else was new. They said yes, to stop immediately and give him lots and lots of benedryl. 

We were giving him benedryl every 4 hours and by 3 1/2 hrs the hives would start coming back. They were everywhere...

We took him to his doctor on Thursday and he said the ear infection/pink eye had cleared up and he thought the hives were showing up not from the antibiotics but because Jaxton had a virus and it was reacting to the antibiotics. So we were to stop those, give him a steroid for the hives and keep with the benedryl. 

Liquid steroids are disgusting. Jaxton was such a trooper about trying it mixed with different things to try to mask the taste: sugar, jelly, chocolate syrup, caramel, grape juice, and every time it would make him throw up. He ended up only getting 1.5 doses out of the 4 down. Friday morning when he woke up I couldn't even see any skin color on his arms, they were just covered in hives and one side of his face/ear was so swollen. But luckily by Saturday morning they were gone.

By this time Preston was healed, Lucas no longer had a fever but has coughing fits that come and go.

Saturday I started feeling sick. I'd been tired and worn down feeling all week but I figured that was just b/c of the lack of sleep i'd been getting. But it hit me hard Saturday. Saturday night Patrick started feeling sick too, sore throat, general feeling of grossness.
Sunday Jaxton was back to having a fever so Monday morning him and I went to the doctor.
Double ear infection for him again and bronchitis and a sinus infection for me.
Miserable.
Oh and his eyes were weepy again. 

I'm lucky Patrick was able to have Monday and Tuesday off work so he could be the Mom. He went grocery shopping for me, and took care of the boys like a champ even though he wasn't at 100%. He woke up this morning (Wednesday) feeling even worse so now he's at the doctor trying to get that figured out. 

 So thats where/how we've been.
Home. 

Quarantined. 

So so sick. 

We're hoping to be on the mend. Everyone's got their antibiotics and we're sanitizing everything hoping to just get this out. It's been a long round of sickness and we just want to feel better!