On vacation

Well we had planned all along that we were going to drive out to Wyoming after Christmas, but last minute there was a big storm that hit Oklahoma. So we decided we wouldn't be able to make the trip after all since they shut down the interstate. Well needless to say, I was feeling a little sad Christmas morning after we made the decision not to go. But for some reason I just couldn't give up even though everything was working against us. So Brad checked the internet again and found out that the roads had opened back up and he said that the only way he would even consider going was if we went in our truck that had 4 wheel drive. Well.... the thought of driving with 3 children in a truck for 2 days wasn't the most appealing thought I'd ever had, but if it was that or nothing, I didn't care how uncomfortable it was, I was going to go home. I was sooooo homesick. It had been way to long! You would think that I would be feeling the spirit telling me not to go, but I didn't, I just really felt like it was important to go home. Some of the reasons were that I hadn't been home in a year and my girls hadn't been home in 2 years. My dad had never seen my baby (who is 5 months) and I had never seen my nephew who is almost a year!
So we decided we were only young and crazy once, and so we decided to leave within the next hour and a half. Somehow we managed to clean up all of our Christmas mess, tidy the house, load up and have lunch all by 12:30. We just decided that we were going to go slow and be careful and if it looked bad then we would just get a hotel and come back home. But lucky for us once we got out of Oklahoma it was smooth sailing the rest of the drive. We didn't have any more slick roads after that. The girls were EXCELLENT too! I'm so glad we decided to come. So anyways, I have been taking lots of pictures and I will upload them all when I get home and post more about it then. But in the meantime we are going to be enjoying lot's of time with family. We will be heading home on Friday so please pray for us that we'll make it home safe.

My birthday surprise....

Today I turned the ripe old age of 27! This morning when I woke up I could hear Brad and Kayla busy in the kitchen and I knew they must be up to something. I was surprised when Brad came back to the room to get me for our "date". I was greeted at the entrance of our "restaurant" by a cute little waitress by the name of Kayla. The restaurant was beautiful! It had been decorated just for my birthday party. My waitress brought me a menu, and I had such a selection I just didn't know what to choose!




This was the fastest restaurant I had ever been to. Within seconds of placing my order the food was ready! I couldn't believe it. The funny thing is they had options of many different things that I could order to drink or eat, but as soon as I ordered it my waitress brought it right out. It was like they knew what I was going to pick before I even did. Ha ha.. I'm so predictable.



After I finished my meal I was given our bill. In case you can't read it, it says

Total
$27.75 plus tax

cash
credit
debit
(circle)

signature
And I even got a little chocolate with my bill just like I do when I go to Olive Garden!


Lucky for me I didn't actually have to pay for my birthday meal, because my sweetheart picked up the tab.

Thanks Kayla and Brad for making my birthday so special. I love you guys!

Extended family Christmas dinner

A few days ago we had our extended family Christmas Dinner with the Ray family (Debbie's side of the family). The family is growing and getting much bigger, so this year we had to reserve a banquet hall. We had a great time. I was a little dissapointed because I didn't get to eat the yummy food because I got my wisdom teeth out on Friday. (FYI if your looking for a great time to schedule your wisdom teeth removal do it the week before christmas, because you are FORCED to pass on all the yummy goodies that are everywhere ;) I was able to eat a little filling from a piece of pumpkin pie though. We were so happy to be able to see everyone. Here are some pictures of the event. (Brad is missing from all of them because he was still stuck at church ;( He had to stay late that day.

Cousin Holly holding Hailey.

Callie loved running around with her cousin Ethan.





Hailey loved sitting with Aunt Faith (until she wet through her diaper that is) sorry Faith!




At the Christmas eve party the kids always get one present from the name draw and one present from Grandma Ray. Kayla got a beautiful red sweater from Grandma Ray and boots from Charlotte, Callie got a cinderella doll and a "real life" doll from Caleb, and Hailey got a cute outfit from Grandma Ray and a light up storybook. Thank you everyone!






These last two pictures are of the girls having their breakfast. When we have pancakes the girls love for me to make them into shapes. Here is my attempt at Mickey mouse.

Love this time of year...

We are all getting excited for Christmas around the Shelton household. I love this time of year because there is so much going on. Kayla just had her Christmas music program for school, and they did an excellent job. Of course she got all dolled up for it and had me put her whole head in curlers that morning. She also decided that she wanted to wear her new skirt. I noticed she was really going all out for the event so I asked her: "Is anyone else dressing up for the program?" She said "I don't know, but I just think I am really talented and since I didn't get one of the parts I thought if I got all dressed up I might feel better about myself."
I thought that was so funny and cute. At least she knows how to pick her self up when she is down!

Callie just loved watching all the kids sing.




Another fun thing that we do every year is make up Christmas goodies for the neighbors. Usually we do just cookies, but this year we decided to try hand dipped pretzels. They were fun to do and they really turned out cute I thought.





Hailey is growing up so fast. She is almost to big for her swing, so we pulled down her activity center that used to belong to Callie. It was a big hit, she loves it!

What's that kicking inside me?

So the other day after I ate my lunch I laid down for a nap and I started to feel this kicking inside me. For a split second I thought, Hmm... this feels an awful lot like there is a baby kicking me?!?!

Ha ha.. but then I realized it was right under my rib cage where my stomach is. I thought, no biggy it's just my food making my stomach twitch weird. Well, we are now on day 3 of the stomach "twitches" or what I think are stomach spasms and I have also had an unending stomach ache since Sunday afternoon. So I decided to google stomach spasms to see what it might be.
The first thing that showed up was a stomach problem called "Gastroparesis".
Oh, what do you know! This sounds familiar.
For those of you that don't know I was diagnosed with Gastroparesis back in 2002 when I was going through my divorce. They did a gastric stomach emtying scan and endoscopy on me to diagnose it. Basically the doctor said it means many of the nerves in my stomach are paralyzed so that my stomach doesn't contract after I eat food. Basically the only way the food is broken down is by acid, because my stomach doesn't contract to crush or move the food through. Thus the stomach ache. Anyways, they said it is incurable and that I would have to take medication for it my whole life. Well, needless to say it hurt really bad for about a year (for which I took medication), but after a while the pain began to subside to the point where I quit taking my medication. So here I am 7 years later thinking that this thing had gone away. WRONG, it's back with a vengeance, now I got spasms with it :) ha ha... Anyway, I'm going to the doctor this week to get it checked out. Hopefully it's like a flare up or something and will go away again. Beause that year long stomach ache did not make me a very happy camper. I'm sure Jennifer and my mom remember!
Anyway, something else that I found out that I am never supposed to eat when I have this is oranges and broccoli. Not just because they can be gassy foods or whatever, but because they actually have parts to them that are undigestable and most peoples stomach will just push it through, but mine can't so it can form something called a bezoar (basically a blockage that can be very dangerous.) Nice to know after I ate oranges twice in the past week! So the moral of this whole story is that I may not have listened to my doctor when I was younger, but I'm going to try to do better this time around and actually start trying a diet that will be easier to digest. And hopefully that will help.
Sorry to all of you who had to read this boring blog, but just thought I'd share.

The honesty of a three year old...

Last night Brad and I were finishing up watching a movie and we decided to go put the girls to bed (they had been watching a movie in Kayla's room). When we got in there both of them were laying in bed and were nose to nose sound asleep, and Callie had her arms wrapped around Kayla's neck. It was so cute so I tried to take a picture with my phone. As soon as it clicked they both opened there eyes and got up. They didn't act sleepy though, like you would normally after waking up. So I said, "You guys were faking weren't you?" They both smiled and said "No, no!" I asked Kayla if she told Callie to fake it and Kayla said "No!"
Then I turned to Callie and said "Did Kayla tell you to fake sleeping?" Then she said "No!" Then Callie got a big smile and said "Kayla said, Close your eyes! There coming!" Brad and I burst out laughing because Callie ALWAYS tells on Kayla.

A couple weeks ago, Callie pointed to one of her presents and went on to describe in detail EXACTLY what was in the box. I looked at her astonished. How did she know what was in there? So trying to trick her I said: "No, I don't think your getting that, it's too much money." Then Callie looked at me matter of factly and said "But Kayla said it is in there!"
Little booger.

Branson Trip

We just got home from another trip to Branson, Missouri. My In laws decided that they were going to make a quick trip up there and they invited their kids and families to go with them. Only our family and Craig's family were able to go. We really had a good time and I'm glad that they invited us. This first picture is the drive up in the Sequoia. It sure was nice to have the extra space so that we could ride together (Brad and I were in the front).

We spent a lot of time just hanging out at the hotel. When you have4 kids on vacation with you, you have to take lot's of nap breaks or you regret it ;) One morning I was nursing the baby and I mentioned that I needed to do Callie's hair. Uncle Craig volunteered, since he said he knew how to french braid. So I said, "Go ahead." I figured he could use the practice for his growing baby girl. It was so funny though because after he finished Callie's hair, she felt it and then burst in to tears and said "Mommy, do it!" She didn't think it felt how it was supposed to I guess. Good think Kayla didn't care and she let uncle Craig give her a french braid. He actually did pretty good!


One of the places that we just had to eat at was called Lamberts. I think I've posted about this place before, but I forgot to take pictures last time. They have the yummiest food. And they walk around and throw you your dinner rolls. They also have people walking around with big skillets that have sides in them that you can get for free like okra, fried potatoes, beans, macoroni, etc. All you have to do is order a plate and then you have unlimited choices of sides and rolls. It's really hard not to eat to much!

Brad and I enjoying our yummy dinner.

I couldn't believe Debbie actually caught a picture of Kayla catching a dinner roll. Good timing grandma!

Then of course we had to make a trip to Bass Pro shop while we were out that way. The girls just love going there and seeing all the animals and stuff. And of course the guys don't mind going there either ;)

One night back at the hotel we decided to lay the babies out and let them look at each other. Well they mostly looked past each other, but you can't say we didn't try.



I thought this picture was cute, because they both have very similar hair in the back. They have this spot mid section where their hair has worn a little thinner from laying down I guess. You can't see it as good in this picture, but you can see it better in person.




Callie just loved hanging out in Grandpa and Grandma's bed.



Before we left we had to make sure to take the girls down to the swimming pool at least once, even though it was super cold outside. At least it was a heated pool and they had a nice changing room where you could shower and blow dry your hair so you didn't have to walk back with wet clothes and hair. Even with all these amenities, I still opted to stay warm on the side and be the camera lady ;)




Even Hailey got to take a little dip in the pool. (Even if it was just her feet.)



The last night that we were there we decided to go to the Branson landing mall. It is an outdoor mall and we knew it would be super cold with the babies but we wanted to show Craigs wife the outdoor water show, so we decided to take a quick drip over there. The babies actually ended up being excellent and stayed warm all bundled up in the stroller. Hailey slept pretty much the whole time!





Of course Callie got grandma to get her a "car" stroller, that is her little luxury that grandma gets her when we go to a mall that has them, it is her favorite thing.






These last ones are just pictures of us at the water show. They had flames shooting out on 0ne of the songs and it felt so good, because you could feel the heat from the stands ;)

Thanks grandpa and grandma for inviting us, we had a lot of fun!

It's Christmas time!

It's officially Christmas time at the Shelton house, since we have put up our Christmas tree. We put it up last week when my sister was staying with us.
We had a pretty fun weekend. Karren and I had gone to new moon on Thursday night (which we loved), then Friday morning Brad and I went out for the Black Friday deals. And boy did we luck out, not only did we get everything that we wanted, but it only took us a few minutes to do it. We were in and out of the stores so quickly that the check out lines didn't even have time to build up. Aunt Karren was a sweetheart and stayed in bed to watch our girls at 4:30 in the morning. I had announced that I was going shopping really early and Brad and Karren really duked it out to figure out which one of them was going to get to go with me ;) Ha ha.. no really though, it was nice of Brad to come with me and we even had time to go get breakfast together before the baby woke up. Friday Brad went hunting, so we decided to have a lazy day and lay around in our P.J.'s all day and put up Christmas decorations. Here are some of us doing the decorating. Aunt Karren was busy taking pics of us and we forgot to take some of her.


The finished product:

The girls modeling for Aunt Karren in front of the tree
And Hailey just had to check out the tree too. She loved all the ornaments and sparkly lights.