Camping!

We finally went camping again, after 2 years of not doing it. We decided we needed to get away so we just did it. It was so much fun. Thanks to Ryan's dad for saving us at the last minute by loaning us his truck when we couldn't fix our van! The kids had a fun time, even though E swears he didn't enjoy it at all (silly kid!) It rained on us during the afternoon and a little during the night. Thank goodness for tarps! 

Kate definitely had bed-head in the morning!

 We found a tree that had grown into a rock and completely split it apart.

Here is K and J eating breakfast. 

And E doing what he loves most--digging. 

After camping, we went to Snowflake to visit my family for a little while. We drove by our old dream house on the way there... 

and wished it was still ours, but still thankful that we live where we do. Ryan put a lot of work into that house building it in expectation of our firstborn. We had dreams of living there in "the house that Ryan built" while our kids grew up. Life changes and so did our plans...The new owners were able to do all the things to the house that we wanted to do, but were never able to.  

Ryan especially likes the garage that the backyard now holds. (Look closely and you can see it just past the cars in the driveway.) 

The kids loved being in Snowflake. E especially loved the stairs at grandma and grandpa's house. We had so much fun this weekend! It was nice to have a few days away from stress before we had to come back to the real world.  

E's progress

Well, we went out to eat Friday night at Black Bear Diner. We fed the kids beforehand, just in case there wasn't anything safe for them. Just about everything on the menu contained egg and they serve breakfast all day long. We really wanted to see how E would react being around his allergens. The server got us a table in a back room in a corner. There were not a lot of people around us. We had them wash down E's area of the table with a clean rag. R and I ate foods that had tomatoes. I also had sweet potatoes. E knew that he was not supposed to touch his face and he did a wonderful job! We all washed our hands and face before leaving. We are proud to say that he passed sitting in a room with other people eating foods he is allergic to. Now although he did ok in a room with other people, he was not touched by anyone AND he did not touch any other surface other than what had been cleaned. His face has been so clear lately that we wanted to just try to see what would happen. Obviously we had the benadryl and epi-pen. Thankfully we did not need to use either one.

Also, as a reward system in our home, we use a "treasure box". Each time the kids do something good, ie brush their teeth, eat their meal, get dressed, read to someone, share toys, etc, they get to put a rock from one container into another. When all the rocks are in the "happy can" (it has a smiley face on it) they all get to choose out of the treasure box. This time, E chose to have a date with Dad. Dad took him to weinerschnitzel and let him have a plain hotdog. We were very cautious about this. R drilled the employees about every single food label for all the different products and even what oils they use one the hotdog grill. There was tomato and nuts (nuts were only near the registers, not near where they cook the hotdogs). E went the whole meal w/o ANY incident. R said E was so excited to be able to go somewhere and eat food that we did not prepare. E tried to not play it up too much when he got home. E said he didn't like it at all, but I know he's just playing cool with me.

So...because he has done so well with each of those situations, we are going to try to go to church w/o wiping down all of the chairs for a few weeks to see how he does. We are really hoping that he can actually go to Sunbeams with the other kids...That way he is not in a primary class all by himself, poor guy. It has got to be boring being the only kid!

We are also going to start having home school park days soon where the kids get to play with other homeschooled kids. J is really excited about it! It will be nice to have some friends for the kids to play with.

Church update

We went to church and did not wipe anything down. He did not have any problems in sharing time. He did a very good job of keeping his hands away from his face! ...AND since he did so well, we tried going in the "friend class" since there were only 4 kids there this week. I was a little scared b/c there was peanut butter smeared all over the carpet. I held him on my lap and made sure the other kids did not touch him. He did just fine. The lesson was only 15 minutes and we took a potty break. I offered to have the class move to our classroom, which is posted a "food-free" classroom. I felt a little more comfortable with that and he actually sat in his own chair. He was a little nervous b/c the other kids kept coming into his personal space. I had to keep telling them that they could make E sick if they touched him. I think next time we go, we will talk to all the kids before class starts and give them some rules to follow to help keep E safe. I think it will be a huge help for E to be able to be around his peers a little more!!

Also, J asked us last night if he could fast today. Can you believe it--A 5yo wanting to fast? Anyway, Dad told him how to fast properly and helped him open his fast last night. Dad told him that when J's ready to eat in the morning, just to let him know and he'll show him how to break his fast. J made it all the way to about 10am. I was so proud of him! He was really excited that he was able to do something that adults do. He also bore his testimony today AND gave a talk in primary. He really LOVES speaking in church. He is always asking us when he can give a talk in sacrament meeting. He just amazes me in everything he does!

K went to nursery for the first time this week. R picked her up while they ate snacks and brought her back in when they were finished. She did wonderfully! She was a little unsure when she saw me trying to walk out the door, but R was able to help her transition a little before he had to teach his class. Afterward, the teacher saw me in the hall and told me how well she had done. She just had a blast with all those other kids to play with!

R just finished his 2nd summer class. He did 2 independent study classes this summer. He basically has a topic and does a bunch of research and then writes a HUGE paper on it for a grade. For his first class, he got an A. The topic was on the American diet. The second class he got an A+. It was on Holistic Dentistry and how to incorporate holistic practices in a dental practice. He really enjoyed this topic. He was so proud when he got his grade back a few hours after he turned in his paper. (Congratulations Honey! You are so amazing!) Pretty soon we will be turning in his dental applications....I'm so nervous and excited at the same time! We won't know until at least December/January and possibly later if he gets accepted for this next year. Wish him luck and pray for him!!!!