Murder Mystery Party #5

Drew and I started a FUN tradition our first halloween together, and have continued that tradition every year since! If you haven't ever been to/tried a Murder Mystery dinner or party, YOU NEED TO! They are a blast.

If you haven't heard of one or don't know what it is, here is a little run down. It's basically a "scripted" party where everyone is assigned a character and they come dressed as the character. There is a "script" that you follow that reveals certain clues and points of conversation and "evidence" that points to multiple characters as the "murder". (I am going quotation mark crazy right now....haha). Every year we get better and better at figuring out certain clues and paying attention to little details. But we still have a hard time figuring out who the murder is. Everyone gets really in to it and Drew and I have a blast planning the menu and decorations. (And choosing who is going to play who.) This year it was an Alice in Wonderland theme and was probably one of the most fun ones we have done, if not the FUNNEST! (I know it's not a word but there is not another word to describe the excellence of the night!) Here are some pics from previous years, and then from this year. Thanks again to all our friends that could make it! For those of you who couldn't, we missed you this year! See you next year hopefully!

This was our very first year when Drew and I were dating, 2007. The theme was winter ski resort.

This was our first Halloween married, 2008, and we didn't get a group shot :( The theme was a Luau.

This was in 2009 when I was first pregnant and not feeling great, but it was still super fun! It was a masquerade! Obviously..haha...


Last year, in 2010, was a Haunted House "workers" theme. We were all some type of monster. We held it in Drew's dad's barn in Cedar City. Super spooky and fun! :)

And finally, this year's pics! 2011, Alice in Wonderland. We all met in St. George at my parents home they just bought. Thanks again mom and dad! Enjoy :)

The tea party....there are cards and christmas lights and lanterns hanging...

Another view...

17 months

Just thought I would give a few quick updates.

Luke-

Luke will be 17 months old tomorrow. Can't believe he is almost a year and a half! We took him to nursery and he did so well, we left him and I'm happy to say we probably will/can from here on out! Church was a whole new experience without him. Haha...I love him and am sad my baby is growing up. But I am also happy that Drew and I can enjoy church again without passing our terrorizer back and forth. :) He is talking like crazy, sometimes (well most of the time) he doesn't make sense to anyone but himself, but atleast he is talking! He can say lots of different words and he understands almost everything we ask or tell him. He just has a hard time pronouncing things the right way. He'll get there, though. I think getting tubes has helped him hear the way things are pronounced better. So that should help. He is into everything and running around crazier than ever before! He loves to play outside and would rome around the whole neighborhood if we'd let him. He LOVES his best buddy Landon (his babysitters's baby who is just a few months younger than Luke) and they are learning to share and play together. Luke wont eat like he used to and I am hoping it's just a phase. He is picky now and only likes to eat at certain times of the day. Which makes sense because he is now a little person instead of a tiny baby who eats almost all day every day. It's just so hard figuring out a schedule when he is constantly changing! But we just adapt and change with him. He is so fun :)

Drew-

Drew is busy planning the Halloween Carnival at East Tech which is this Wednesday. (Those of you who live in Henderson/Vegas, please come!) Last year it was a huge success and this year will probably be even bigger! Go Drew and the Event Planning classes! He is loving teaching again this year and will start his Masters program in January. Hmm...what else.... :) He is still the cutest hubby ever! He bought these shower crayons and leaves me cute notes in the morning for me to wake up to.

Kylie-

I am loving my job more and more as time goes on. It is super fun and now that I know what I am doing I think I'm actually good at it! Haha. My boss and co-workers are all amazing and I am lucky to be a part of the company! They treat us very well! I was right about my head ache meds slowing down my weight loss, because as soon as I went off of them, I started to lose again. BUT THEN, my time of the month came around and caused another short stall. So total, I have lost 8 pounds. Which is good, but I am kinda stuck now. I keep fluctuating between 6 and 8 pounds lost and I can't seem to break it. So I am going to try a couple different things this week and hope to kick start another 8, and then one more set of 8! I have to admit the days I lose I feel awesome and so motivated, but weekends like this where I am STUCK just totally get the best of me. I don't even feel motivated and I just want to quit. But I know in the end, it will be worth it. So I'm going to try and stick it out. I really want to lose as much as possible and feel as good as possible before we start thinking about another baby...which honestly I hope is sooner than later. :)

And a quick update on Garrett. He saw the neurologist, who said he will need surgery, but it would require more testing to determine when. We all assumed that meant he should come home asap and continue the testing, and then decide where to go from there. My parents almost had their bags packed to go get him, and then his cardiologist in Salt Lake decided to get on a conference call with all the Docs that have been seeing Garrett in Cali. They all decided together, that his case isn't severe enough to make him up and go asap. He will need surgery, and will need to be watched closely, but another 2.5 months wont be a huge difference. My parents were able to talk to Garrett a few times, and I was able to over email, and we are all happy he gets to finish out his mission. He was very sad and discouraged that he might have to come home. So hopefully he will be okay and be able to tolerate his headaches for a little bit longer! I can't wait to hug him and tell him how proud I am of him!

Anyway, that's all for updates! We are going to St. George this weekend for our annual Murder Mystery party, so next post will be entertaining, I am sure. :)

October Happenings

I LOVE Fall. I just realized that this week. I usually am a Spring-time-lover but I think I might love Fall just as much. Maybe just because Fall in Vegas is wonderful because the weather is so so nice. All week it's been in the mid-70's and we have enjoyed going on walks and to the park and I finally started running again. Speaking of running...we had a lot of fun at the St. George marathon this year. We always have fun, though. :) My dad's shirt said this:
"25th and Final (and the final has an asterick by it that means "not my final if Kylie will run it with me next year..haha) Heart-check, lungs-check, knees-not so much. PR 2:42 1996 Favorite: Today"
And here is the one and only pic I got of the whole weekend of the kids. Haha. Jett was sharing his snow cone with Luke.

We have been super busy the past couple weeks so it was nice to have a night off from our busy schedules on Monday. We took Luke to a pumpkin patch a couple miles from our house. It had little kid rides and a petting zoo and lots and lots of pumpkins. Luke was in heaven running around looking at all the "ba"s (He thought they were balls. Actually, he calls anything that is round a ball..we're working on it. :)) Here are some pics from that:

And since I failed to blog about my weigh in last Saturday, I guess I can give the update now. I lost .8 last week, which I was happy with because I found out that my headache medication is known for causing either weight gain, or problems losing weight. SO, that being said, I am going to my doctor today to find out what other options I have. I have stayed EXACTLY the same this week, every single morning I check and the scale isn't moving. It's frustrating because I'm doing everything right and even started exercising more this week. So we'll get it figured out. And last but not least. Please keep my little brother Garrett in your prayers. He is on a mission in California right now, and has been struggling for a couple months with severe migraines. He has Marfan Syndrome, which he was diagnosed with years ago. To read about it go here. Basically he has lots of elastagen in his body (heart, veins, limbs, etc.). That's why he is so tall, and that's why he has to closely monitor his heart to make sure his aorta stays within normal limits as far as stretching and size. Well, his migraines got so bad that his mission president finally set him up with an MRI. The MRI found something called Chiari Malformation, which can sometimes happen in people who have Marfans. Not always, but of course, my little brother (since he is such a strong human being) has yet another trial to deal with. Chiari Malformation basically means the back of his skull is too skinny and long for his brain, and his brain is escaping and causing pressure on his spine and skull, causing headaches. He will have to have surgery, which will entail having a piece of his skull cut out to relieve the pressure. He is seeing a neurologist next week who will determine if the surgery can wait until he gets home in 2.5 months, or if he needs to come home now to have it. He is such a strong person, and has been such a great missionary. I know he is in good hands, and what needs to happen will be for the best. We love and miss him so much. I just wanna give him a hug! I can't wait to do just that. Whenever that time comes. ANYWAY, that was long. :) Just please pray for him! And here is a cute video of Luke and Drew playing.

New Ears!

Luke has had ear problems since he was born. His first hearing test ever he didn't pass, and had to go back when he was 2 weeks old to have a re-test. It took them 5 times to get good readings, and we have always been kinda worried about that. Every time he goes to his pediatrician and they do pressure checks, they have a hard time getting a reading at all! Our doctor always says he probably just has more fluid than other babies. His last ear infection (which he always gets 2 at a time, both ears) we asked our doctor about tubes. I had them when I was a baby, and most of my brothers had to as well. Our doc kept saying he hasn't had enough infections to even talk about tubes yet. However, I decided to take Luke to a Ear Nose and Throat doctor to get a second opinion. Well, Monday afternoon we took him to the ENT, and sure enough, he had ALL the signs they look for in babies that need tubes. The ENT said he couldn't see through Luke's ear drums at all! (Usually you can see through them but his ears were FULL of fluid.) He is always pulling on his ears, he sometimes has poor balance (more than a normal baby..), he says syllables wrong sometimes (like bop bop instead of beep beep) and his ears are always full of gunky yellow junk. We seriously clean them every other day and it alwasy takes TONS of qtips. So long story short, Luke had surgery this morning to have tubes put in his ears! We had to be there at 6 am because he had to fast past midnight and they let the little kids go first in the day : We got him checked in and then walked circles around the hospital in his wagon until it was time for him to go in! I am SOO glad we did it. It took like 15 minutes, and by the time they came to get us he was already "awake." The nurse said, "He already is coming to and asking for mama!" The anesthesia made him really out of it and fussy, of course. The doctor assured us he wasn't fussy and sobbing because he was in pain, just because waking up from anesthesia is kinda weird and yucky. So for about 20 minutes as he was waking up he was really sad and wouldn't calm down for anything, but we are home now, he has had a nap and some crackers and milk and he is as good as new! You wouldn't even know he had been in the hospital this morning! Anyway, I was SUPER sad we forgot our camera! I wanted to take pics of him in his cute hospital gown. I got some with my phone, but they are blurry and not the same. :( Here they are! Sorry they uploaded backwards....

Okay I found this one while uploading pics and had to add it. It's using a app that my brother has on his phone that makes you look chubby. Pretty funny!


Right when we got home after his 20 minutes of screaming. He is still a little out of it eating some crackers.


Riding in the fun wagon waving to everybody.

Looking at the fish in the waiting room

In the waiting room. Too early!

The doctor said he will be able to hear things better now and will probably start pronouncing things better. And maybe will have a little better balance and less bumps and bruises because of falling! And most importantly, less ear infections!!