Our Super Relaxing Vacation Part 2

So I believe I left off right after we got back from Arizona.  And we moved into the hoarders house.  And to make life better, both Asher and David got sick.  Like, really really sick.  We found out later that at least Asher probably had bronchitis, and probably David a little bit too.  They were both coughing and congested and feverish.  So you can imagine how much fun I had trying to take care of both of them!  I know they both were trying to be in a good mood, but honestly they were both cranky and I was trying really hard not to be grumpy about taking care of them.

Also, David and I were trying to decide if we should take the job in Arizona.  The good things were: we could make a lot of money because rent is sooooo cheap and we could start paying off David's student loans, our house would be way bigger than anywhere else we've lived and also pretty nice, and it would be a good starter job for David to get all his first year mess-ups over with.  The down side would be: the music program is tiny and mostly choir and guitar (no orchestra), it's on an Indian Reservation so there are a lot of families living in poverty (one website I looked at said that many people didn't even have running water), the town is very small and kind of in the middle of nowhere so there aren't a lot of options for shopping or eating out or entertainment, if we would need to see a doctor for a non-emergency visit, we couldn't go to the clinic in town because that is only for the Natives (we would have to drive 20 miles to the next town), and it's very far away from both of our families (and we like being close to family).  It was a very hard decision and even my dad said we were right on the fence, the good equaled out the bad and we could go either way.  After A LOT of deliberation we decided to take the job.  So sometime in January we're moving to Arizona!

It was nice to get the decision made so we didn't have to worry about it over Christmas.  So I thought Christmas would be really relaxing!  WRONG!  The night before Christmas it snowed.  A lot.  I think about 10 inches of snow with a lot of wind.  And since we were staying in a house that was on a private road, the county wouldn't plow our roads for us!  We were told that someone with a tractor usually plowed the roads, but I wasn't holding my breath about them doing it Christmas morning.  I thought that maybe would could get out so David and I packed Asher up in the car and we tried pushing the car out.  And got stuck.  So David (still very sick, mind you) got a shovel and tried digging the car out.  I took Asher out of the car because he doesn't like being in his carseat too long.  David did get the car out, only to drive another 3 feet and have it get stuck again.  We spent about 2 hours trying to get the stupid car out of the driveway!  And I kept putting Asher in and out of his carseat and that really made him mad.  Finally, I called my family and my sister and her husband came and rescued us!  My sister asked what we would've done if we couldn't get out and I said we'd just hang out at the house...with no presents (they were all at my mom's)....and our Christmas dinner would have been eggs and cereal.  So I'm very glad they came!

When we got to my mom's house we found out a lot of Rexburg had been snowed in because of the storm.  So we hung around until everyone made it out so we could open some presents!  We had to wait a long time because my dad was using his snow-blower to dig out about half of Rexburg.  I think it was about 1pm when we finally started Christmas.  Asher wasn't in a great mood because of being sick so he didn't really enjoy the holiday too much.  But I had fun eating good food and being with family!

The day after Christmas we kind of schlumped because the holiday was over, we were stuck in a depressing house that was soooo cold, and Asher was getting more and more grumpy.  Over the next few days he started just being impossible to be around.  He would cry all the time and had a really hard time sleeping.  He started getting into the habit of only sleeping if someone (mostly me) was holding him. Even during the night.  I was not impressed with this new development because I had to hold him all the time and try to keep him happy.  And because he was waking up so much at night, I wasn't getting nearly enough sleep.  That next Sunday we got snowed in again so we couldn't go to church, although we probably wouldn't have gone anyways because of the 2 sick boys at our house.

Also that weekend, my brother and his family came from Wyoming!  It was a lot of fun having them come.  They have a little boy about Asher's age and it was so cute seeing them toddle around together!

Asher and Sorren, best of buds!

On monday we went bowling and played basketball at my dad's school.  David stayed home for that and I had Asher.  Who was so tender that the slightest little thing would make him cry.  I really was trying to be positive, but it got very exhausting and frustrating.  I usually would take Asher to my parents house to give him a bath (the house we were staying at didn't really have hot water...and the bathroom was really dirty), but I decided to skip that and just went home so I could get some help from David to save my sanity.

This was a big hit at the bowling alley, my Dad kept track of the little ones while we bowled.  He would put one in the seat and one on the back and let them ride like that!  He probably spent $20 on this one ride!

On tuesday, my Dad was telling me that there was going to be a big drop in temperature that night.  And I saw people on facebook saying to leave some water running to help keep your pipes from freezing.  I didn't think it would get quite that cold, but I left some water running anyways.  That night it got down to -20.  I haven't seen it get that cold in a long time!  And guess what, the pipes in the house froze.  We had no water.  So I called my mom to see if it was a big deal (and the answer is yes it is!) and then contacted the owner.  He didn't seem too concerned about it and said he'd try to get someone over to look at things.  I didn't really want to wait around all day just to go to the bathroom, so we went over to my mom's house.  Asher was trying to be in a good mood, but it just wasn't happening.  He was so tired and grumpy and not very fun to be around.  I put him down for a nap and he slept for 2 hours.  I forgot to mention that the whole break he had hardly been eating.  I know he lost a lot of weight because almost no calories were making it into his system.  It didn't matter what I tried  to feed him, it just wasn't happening.

So that night, he was so miserable and awful that I decided to take him to the doctor.  Since it was New Years Eve I was worried the Community Care place wouldn't be open.  And it wasn't.  My mom asked if maybe it was his teeth, so I checked his mouth and sure enough, 2 teeth were coming in!  I thought that was the problem so I took him home, gave him some pain medicine and some Ora-gel to numb his mouth.  Didn't help at all.  He was still very cranky.  So David and I took him to the hospital, the only place open at 8pm on New Years Eve.  We got there and Asher was ok, but still grumpy.  But what really set him over the edge was the wristband they put on him, he HATED it!  He cried harder at that then anything.  He was crying so hard in the waiting room that a nurse came by and gave him a stuffed animal to make him feel better.  It didn't help, but it was so nice of her to do.  Anyways, after it was all said and done, we found out Asher had a really bad ear infection, slight case of bronchitis, and 2 teeth coming in.  Happy new year to us!  I felt like a horrible mother, but I was more relieved than anything because after he got ear drops and antibiotics, he was back to his old, lovable self!  It was amazing the difference it made.  I'm just glad he's feeling better!  After the hospital we got some McDonald's and fries for Asher (he loves fries) and went back to the house with no water.  David and I started watching a movie but fell asleep about 30 minutes in.  That was our awesome party!

The next day I thought things were going to be so much better, but not so much.  When David went to let the chickens out the next morning, he saw tons of water in their backyard, coming from under the house.  The pipes that had frozen the previous night had burst and when a neighbor came over to try to warm the pipes up to get some running water in the house, it got the water dumping out of the burst pipe.  It was like a huge torrent of water filling up their backyard.  I immediately called the owner and told him what happened and he walked me through turning the water pump off.  I feel really bad for them, but there wasn't anything else I could've done to prevent it!  So we decided to move back to my parents house that day so we could have some running water.  So we moved back.  And I was reminded that I still hate moving.  But I was trying to be optimistic because Asher was in a better mood, David was feeling better, and it was the last day my brother and his family were here so I wanted to enjoy it!  That night we had everyone in the family at my parents house and got a great picture of all the cousins.  I love family get-togethers!

All the cousins!  My brother David's 3 boys on the left, Joni's 2 in the middle (she has the only girl!),
and my little one on the right.

I was still taking care of the chickens for the other house until they got back.  I had to bring water over from my parents house for them and 3 days before they got back, their chicken food ran out and I had to borrow some food from my mom.  They got home late last night and so when I went to put the chickens away it was the last time!  But while I was checking the house for anything we might've left behind, I found out their fridge had stopped working.  Of course.  But I didn't want to be the bearer of bad news (again) and knew they'd be home soon anyways.  I feel really bad that they had to come home from their vacation to such a broken house, but I'm also very very glad that I get to walk away from that situation!

So that's our vacation.  I am so tired and really wishing this "vacation" would be over so I can recuperate.  But David still has to finish getting certified to teach in Arizona before we can move and finally get a place of our own back.  It's been difficult getting that done with all the holidays.  I'm very thankful that we have such wonderful families that would help get us through this very rough time and am very excited that sometime soon we can have a home of our own again!

We got Asher a train track for Christmas.  I couldn't tell who was more excited about setting it up, him or David!

I really love granny crafts!  I learned how to knit this past summer, and have made 2 dish cloths, a scarf, and now a sock!  I had my mom there the entire time telling me how to do it.  It was a lot of fun!