Rocko the Sneaky Cat

Around the middle of the summer after our last kitty got hit on the road I took the kids to get a few new free kitties.  They brought home two that they loved.  One of the little ones took off just a few days after we got them.  I'm guessing it wondered, got lost and didn't know how to get home.  The other one, named Rocko, stuck around for the kids to love.

In September we noticed that Rocko had a funny lump on his side and since he had already proven himself a mouser even as tiny as he was Ryan had me run him to the vet. (Which is absolutely unheard of! Ryan hates cats!! Even the vet knows that and asked me if Ryan knew I was there with a CAT?!) They ended up having to do surgery on an abscess. After surgery we had to keep him in the house for a few days and all the sudden he thought he was an inside cat.  This little stinker is SO FAST and can be in the house before we even know it.  He also climbs into about everything he can including vehicles.  He rode all over the farm making about 7 stops in the back of Ryan's truck one day without Ryan knowing.  The beginning of November he disappeared for a few days and had me worried. I was subbing for the secretary at the elementary school when I got a call in the office from Laiklie's teacher.  All she said was that she needed me to come to her classroom for a minute and hung-up.  So I got my friend Hollie who was just walking into the office to watch the phones and I ran down to the 3rd grade room.  When I walked in Mrs. Lambertsen said, "I think I have something that might be yours." She searched around the desks and kids for a second and pulled out OUR CAT! WHAT?! How did this dumb kitty cat get 2 miles down the road and end up at the school?  I thought maybe he had rode with me, but he had been missing for 2 days before I ever went to the school.  So I have no idea how he got there.  Mrs. Lambertsen saw him out on the playground where some kids were kicking him so she let him into her classroom and as her kids came in from lunch she tried to hand him to the school counselor to take care of when Laiklie told her, "Mrs. Lambertsen......I think that is my cat." She was right! I'm glad she spoke up so he could come home with us, and I am glad my sweet friend Hollie was willing to drive him home for me. (She is NOT an animal lover! Worse than I am even! hahaha)

Since being home he has been back to his sneaky ways. One night we got a video text from Oakley with him snuggled up around her head in her bed.  Another night we sat down as a family to play a card game and in the middle of our card game there was the dumb cat walking through us playing.  He is a sneaky little sucker, but a good mouser and we love the darn thing.  Glad he is home!   

Dance Competition - Autumnfest 2015

On November 7th Oakley and Laiklie had the Autumnfest Clogging Competition in Salt Lake.  Because of Oakley's sprained ankle she didn't get to dance.  I about had to duct tape her to her chair to keep her from dancing though.  She LOVES to dance and it was hard for her to have to sit and watch her friends compete and not be along side them.

Laiklie got to dance though. This is an individual competition only so no team dances so she only danced her solos.  She did GREAT and got FIRST PLACES ON ALL 5!! When you get firsts on all five you get what is called a MASTER SOLOIST AWARD! Laiklie got called up on stage to receive her award.  So proud of her and her hard work getting ready for the competition!

You don't even know how much I love to watch those little legs clog! :)

HALLOWEEN 2015

I skipped Halloween in my posts, so I had to go back and post about it.  This year not very many of the grandkids made it to paint the pumpkin at Grandma Hawkins house.  The older they get the harder it is to get them all together.  We also had to have a Spookly the Square Pumpkin this year because we didn't have any round bales.  Darn farmers.  Hahaha. Just kidding!

 We also carved pumpkins one night for FHE.  Oakley was at dance so she missed out on it.  The other 3 kids had a blast designing and cutting their pumpkins. 

 The school did the annual Halloween Parade.  It is weird and kinda sad to only have 2 kids left at the elementary.

 Laiklie was a "runner" and Rhett was a "nerd."

 Dallin was a hunter....and actually went hunting instead of trick-or-treating. Rhett was a nerd, Laiklie a runner and Oakley helped hand out candy (aka Hang out with friends in the warm car) at the ward trunk-or-treat.

 My sister Arnica's teenagers made it to state in Cross-Country and it was the same weekend as Halloween, so we got to have her 3 littles Tyce, Danica and Paige here with us again.  My kids think that is the best thing EVER! Cousins are so much fun! Especially cousins to trick-or-treat with!

 And we ended our trick-or-treating at Grandma Murdock's again.  The kids love going to see her on Halloween and she absolutely loves to see them too!

Dallin Turns 13!

Dallin turned 13 on November 7, 2015.  I can't believe my little boy is so big! His birthday fell on the same day as his sisters dance competition in Utah so we opened presents the day before his birthday and did cake and ice cream the day after his birthday.  So he had a big birthday weekend.

 New gloves and new muck boots.  Essential when you are a 13 year old boy!!:)

 A trail camera.  He was so excited for this one! He put it out on our tree by the canal where he saw some deer tracks one night and couldn't wait for morning. The next morning when he went to check it he got a picture.....of HIS THUMB! Hahahah! He has successfully got a picture of the dog too.  ;) We will keep trying!

Dallin is a great kid! He is a hard worker and makes both of his parents very proud! We love you buddy! Happy Birthday!

Hunting Season 2015

 Oakley and Dallin were both able to get nice bucks during hunting season this year.  Bone and the deer were good to them.  Both deer got hauled up to the taxidermy.  They are excited and we are very proud of them!

Our 2nd Night in the ER

On November 2, 2015, Laiklie gave us a big scare.  She had diarrhea all day long that day and wanted to jump in a hot bath that evening.  That sounded great to me so I ran the tub and put her in it.  She said she didn't need help washing her hair so I left her to soak.  About 5 minutes later she started yelling for me.  When I got in there she said her stomach was killing her.  So I hurried and got the shampoo out of her hair and helped her out of the tub.  I ran out to the table to get some essential oils to rub on her tummy and as I was rubbing them on her she said, "Mom, everything is dizzy." I looked up in time to see her go white and her eyes roll back in her head and she went down.  Not only did she pass out on me....she also did this little seizure shake and teeth grinding thing.  SCARE ME TO DEATH!! She was only out a couple seconds when she looked up at me and asked, "what happened?" Ryan was at the ranch helping Dallin gut out a deer, so I yelled downstairs for Oakley and had her call him while I got Laiklie dressed and loaded in the car to run to the hospital.

When we got to the hospital they tried to get an IV started.  It took 3 tries because her little veins kept collapsing.  When they finally got an IV in they did some blood work, a urine test and a EKG of her heart just to check everything. 

 She ended up having what was called a vasovagal syncope.  In English (hahaha) that means after having the diarrhea and sitting in the hot bath she was dehydrated just enough that as she stepped out of the tub her brain told her heart something wasn't right which made her blood pressure drop and down she went.  In other words it all just kind of put her little body into shock.  It does NO DAMAGE and has NO LASTING SIDE EFFECTS. Yay! Although so super scary to her mom!! They did find a Urinary Tract Infection that they did treat with antibiotics, otherwise she was good to go home.

Ryan did finally get the deer cleaned out and made it to the hospital to sit the last hour with us.  She sure needed her daddy! What a blessing he is in our lives.  This was such a scary day....hopefully it is a once in a lifetime deal.  I am so grateful for my little girl and so glad she is ok!

California 2015

We had the opportunity to go with Grandpa and Grandma Hawkins and all the Hawkins cousins on a California/Disneyland Trip in October 2015.  It was a BLAST! Ryan decided we were driving instead of flying.  Which worked out great. We rented a suburban and were able to take all we needed with us and fit all the souvenirs the kids found home.   

We left on Saturday, Oct. 17th at about 9 pm after the volleyball tournament and headed as far as Ogden, UT.  We spent the first night there and spent all day Sunday traveling to Las Vegas, NV where we met up with Tara's family, who also drove, and later that night everyone else flew into Vegas.

 

 Monday morning we were up and headed to California early.  We were a mile from the CA boarder when Rhett reminded us that we left the kit kats in the fridge of the hotel.  Which also meant we had left Oakley's insulin for the entire week in the fridge as well.  :(  We had no other option but to turn around and go the hour back to Vegas.  We made it to Disneyland a couple hours after our cousins.  It was fine.  We still had plenty of time to play.  We did however happen to lose Rhett in the first 15 minutes of being in Disneyland.  TERRIFYING for him and his mom!!! Rhett is the one we lost at Lagoon one year so he was smart and knew what to do.  We found him pretty quickly with the help of answered prayers. 

 They had a wheelchair rental right in our hotel which worked out great for this poor little crippled girl.  That darn ankle didn't slow her down thanks to her wheels and many drivers, especially her cousin Macady.

 We only stayed at Disneyland for a few minutes the first day because we had tickets to Medieval Times that night. 

 It was a great meal and a great show.  I always get nervous about what Rhett is going to eat at things like this, and when the meal started with tomato soup I was really worried.  But....the chicken looked enough like a chicken leg and so he chowed down.  Yay!

 Two hours was a little long for Memory so I took a turn holding her and when she got bored I opened up one of the wet wipes they gave us for our hands.  She used it to wash Uncle Ryan's face for a good 30+ minutes.  Hilarious!! It was great entertainment for her and me.:)

Laiklie was one of the lucky ones who got a flower thrown to her by our Yellow Knight.  She loved it!

Tuesday morning we were off to Disneyland for two days of pure fun! Linn got us all matching green shirts and they were SO NICE in keeping track of everyone. If we would have had these on the first day we would have been able to spot Rhett right off after he got lost.  We ended up wearing them both days because it was so much easier to keep track of each other. We were able to skip to the front of most lines because of Oakley in her wheelchair.  That was a lifesaver! With 21 of us not having to wait in line was SO NICE! Sorry about the hurt ankle Oakley, but we sure appreciated you!

 

Rhett sent this picture to his class at school.  It was so fun to be in Disneyland with gorgeous weather, especially knowing it was cold and nasty at home. 

The kids loved the Tower of Terror and we rode it both days.  It was a crazy ride. So fun!

 

 

 

 This was our Happy Birthday picture we took to send to Uncle Dale who wasn't with us. Wish he could have come.

 

One of our favorite things to do since our hotel was across the street from Disneyland and the pool was on the roof was to watch the fireworks each night from the pool. 

 Wednesday night with feet that ached like crazy from two days of non-stop walking we headed to San Diego.  We spent Thursday at Sea World seeing the animals.  It was only open from 10-5 so we weren't able to see so much of it.  We were bummed, but loved all that we did get to see.

 Sea Lions Show

 Tunnel under the Sharks

 The Whale Show

 We also saw a pet show and the dolphin show and most of the kids left the dolphin show soaking wet!  It was amazing to see the talented animals and all the training they have had.

 We did some souvenir shopping then headed back to the hotel to hit the beach for a minute before it got dark. 

 OH MY WORD, I LOVED THE OCEAN!! And the ocean at sunset was breath taking!

 I absolutely loved the feel of the waves crashing on my legs and the sand washing out from under my feet as it pulled it back into the ocean.  36 years old and I FINALLY made it to the ocean. The kids could not get enough of it either!!

 Friday morning we started out at the BEAUTIFUL San Diego Temple.  Ryan's grandparents, Max and Ramona, came on this CA trip with us.  What a blessing! We had decided we wanted all the grandkids that could to do baptisms.  Max wanted to baptize them. What a special thing that Oakley and Dallin will never forget!

 Oakley and Dallin with Great Grandpa Romrell. 

 "The Greats"

We love these two so much.  They are so much fun to travel across the country with us.  Dallin and Rhett even got to share a hotel room with them in Disneyland and those two little boys just giggled and giggled and Max and Ramona giggled right back at them.  I love that my kids get to have such a great relationship with two such amazing people!

After the temple we headed to the Mormon Battalion.  We took the tour which ended with the kids panning for gold.  They LOVED it!

 Then back to hit the beach.  Friday was windy so the beach wasn't as fun as the day before, for the adults atleast.  I don't do cold. :(  The kids still had a blast! We did some sea shell gathering outside of our hotel room before we headed to the beach with the waves.

 

 

 So grateful for Stan and Linn for taking us on such a fun trip! We are very blessed!

 We loved our hotel in San Diego.  It was a family suite and fit up perfect, plus it sat right on the bay so the view was amazing and it was so nice to go put our feet in the sand.

 

 The hotel also offered a free ride on their guest boat.  The kids got too cold on the upper deck so we spent most of it down on the dining deck just letting Rhett, Laiklie, Sage and Violet run.  Oakley didn't want to ride the boat and Dallin had a stomach ache so they both skipped out on it.

Saturday morning we headed back to Las Vegas for a show that night.  We went to the show Zarkana.  It was a variety show and was so good.  It had some of everything and some incredibly talented people. 

 After the show those that were flying home headed to their hotel and those driving home headed to St. George.  We got to St. George just after midnight and were exhausted.  About 2:30 am Oakley sent me a text that her blood was high and she was going to throw-up. Her, Laiklie and Tara's girls were in the hotel room next door to us.  I went over and we got her pump changed and a shot of insulin and then every half hour for two hours I snuck back into their room to check her blood to make sure it was coming down.  It was a long night and we both were exhausted on the drive home the next day.

We had an amazing trip with amazing people.....but we were excited to see the sign that meant we were home! It always feels good to be home! And seriously the thought of eating out at another fast food place after 7 days of it in a row made my stomach turn! We made it home in time to unload the rental car, unpack and even start laundry before we drove into the airport to pick-up those that flew home. 

What a great experience with so many memories made! Loved it all!