"Cheesy Rhymes with Chickezie!"

A direct quote from Seth while watching AI the other night.

We had a great time yesterday at the Moaning Caverns...not a place to go if you are the least bit claustrophobic! Luke was a bit nervous going down--as was I--it was a tight descent. It was amazing...Jonah pointed out how much the inside walls looked like chocolate ice cream.

Today I think we're going to go to Big Trees National Park...tomorrow we'll head home. It has been a great break.

Spring Breakin'

Spring Break this week! We headed to Northern California...Angel's Camp, CA to be exact. We are having a great time.

The drive was beautiful. Seth picked up the states of Oregon, Nevada and California that he had not been to and Luke has now added Nevada and California to his list! Luke is the caretaker of 'Willis' the class dog this week--don't worry, he's stuffed--so we brought Willis along to enjoy the sites as well. We took pictures to document Willis' trip and to add to the journal in which Luke is to write what Willis did this week. Good Times.

We got to drive through Winnemucca and drive by some of the Ellison Ranching Company Ranches...I can't wait to take the kids sometime and meet my dad there to show the kids where he was a cowboy way back when...

Sunday we drove to El Dorado Hills to go to church with Jared's sister Camille and her family (

Sam, Cade, Regan & Reyna) and then enjoyed a wonderful Easter dinner with them. Thank you Camille! It is always fun to be with cousins! Monday Camille and the kids drove down to where we're staying for some lunch and swimming. The weather could not be more perfect. It is beautiful. I almost would like to move back to CA. I do like it here.

Yesterday we headed to Yosemite. It was a beautiful drive. Luke and I did not fare so well with the windy roads...we were both pretty sick by the time we got back. Next time we'll get some Dramamine! Jonah asked at one point if it was Japanese/Chinese day at Yosemite...there were a lot of Asians.

We hiked to the lower falls...the kids had a great time climbing on all the rocks. We had bought the boys some snakes at the gift shop and they seemed to look real to most of the people walking by us. There were many gasps and then laughing when they realized our 3 year old wasn't holding a real snake in his hand!

Last night we went to Mike's Pizza--the best pizza (and only pizza) place in town. It was pretty good. Then we headed back for American Idol. This morning has been filled with Tennis and now we're going to head off to some caves for a little spelunking. My favorite part of the vacation has been sleeping in!

Seth in glasses??

He looks pretty cute don't ya think? Those are Jared's glasses. Didn't know Jared wore glasses? He doesn't. The doctor prescribed them...he bought them...and I don't think he's EVER worn them. But Seth sure looks cute!

Technology

My blog would be so exciting to read if someone would just invent a device I could attach to my brain that would record every thought. Really...It's quite interesting in there. Unfortunately I have about a 5 minute memory and so all of the interesting thoughts I have are quickly replaced with urgent matters of spilled juice, demands for this and that, and the occasional "Mom, the battery in my pump is dead and I'm out of insulin." Little things like that.

Today Luke had an appointment with the Pediatric Hematologist. If we'd been able to wait a few weeks he would've gone to his Uncle Matt--Jared's brother who is also a Pediatric Hematologist/Oncologist who will be joining the Mountain States Tumor Institute in April! We can't wait!

Since December Luke's white blood cell count has been low...we were pretty sure that it was the Depakote he was taking--which was causing various issues with him--but had to go to Hematology to be certain. Good news...it looks as if the Depakote was the nasty culprit and his counts are all up! This means nothing to me--nor will it to you, but his counts which "normal" is around 1500 were down to 550...after today's blood work he's back up to 2300! Whew!

He is such a trooper. They are always amazed at how well he does with his blood draws. Jared was trying to give him pointers--he doesn't need 'em though!

I was once again amazed at technology...you know when Rachel was first diagnosed with Diabetes, blood glucose meters were relatively new to the general public...only around for 10-15 years. I remember when my dad came home with his first meter and was so excited to poke us all!

For the first 3 or 4 years that Rachel was diabetic they had to draw blood to get her Hemoglobin A1C every 12 weeks, and it took a week to get the results. Now they do a finger stick and it takes about 15 minutes for the results. It is amazing!

Today they drew Luke's blood right before we left to go home and about 20 minutes later they called with the results. Now that's service!

Luke will be having an MRI after Spring break to see if they can detect anything that would be causing all the headaches...my guess is still the medications...but hopefully we can figure out a way for him to not feel so crummy. Now that the Depakote is pretty well out of his system he is starting to have the sparkle back in his eye.

I was grateful when we left MSTI and the receptionist said, "I hope we never see you again!" The feeling is mutual. That's all for now!

Top O' The Mornin' To Ya...Yesterday...

I hope you all had a marvelous St. Patrick's Day. Ours was relatively uneventful. Jonah wore as many shades of green as he could find--he gets his fashion sense from his Uncle Travis... ;) Jared made a good effort as well wearing pants he thought were green which were actually blue and a shirt which he thought was brown, but was in fact olive green. We will be getting his eyes checked soon.

We had a Leprechaun feast...we did not eat any leprechaun, just lots of green stuff...a good time for all. Jonah is convinced he should be able to do Irish dancing as we have some Irish blood in us...he practiced all night. Watch out Michael Flatley!

We may not be special...but we're legal!

We finally got our Idaho license plates. Rachel is not so fond of them--to be honest they're not that exciting. The first thing she said with glistening eyes was, "We're not special anymore..."

I think the "officialness" of being Idaho residents was a little hard. As if owning a home wasn't official enough. I'll have to remind her of all the obnoxious Texas paraphernalia we have adorning our home--inside and out. There is no question where our loyalties lie! So we are officially in Idaho...for now at least...I'd still like to try the East Coast!

Anywho...

A couple of weekends ago we headed to the hot spot of Idaho Falls for a quick game of bowling and a wedding reception. It is about a 4 hour drive--one way--but we would never pass up a chance to see some friends from Texas. Our cute babysitter Allison Seil's new husband happens to be from Idaho Falls, so they had a reception there. It was so fun to see the whole Seil family and Jordan and Tara Lamkin, Jamie Sears and Ashley House who were there from BYU-Idaho.

We loved seeing them all! We didn't tell them we were coming and Laurie Seil started to cry a bit when we walked in...that sure made us feel good!

While on the Eastern side of Idaho we took the opportunity to go to Rexburg and see the new temple and BYU-Idaho (formerly Ricks College). I had never been to Rexburg before--I know it's shocking.

Jared was terribly disappointed that the bookstore was not open, so no BYU gear was purchased. But it was not all a loss...we bowled a game at the Rec Center. After playing the Wii for a couple of months the kids couldn't figure out why they weren't getting strikes and spares. At one point Seth's ball actually stopped on the lane and Jared had to send another down to knock it in so we could continue our game! So much fun!

P.S. I got Seth registered for his last year of pre-school today! 3 days a week next year! Hooray!

Thank You Miss Jen!

I just found this...


After 2 1/2 hours of jumping on the Johnson's trampoline today he's plum worn out!

Spring has Sprung!

Is that not the cutest little crocus you've ever seen?!?

They just popped up this week. I'll be posting pictures of my tulips as soon as they bloom. I'm so excited to live somewhere that you can plant bulbs! I did sucessfully have crocus in Houston, but never got the tulips to work.

Not much time to post today...I'll catch up later.

You've gotta watch this one!

http://www.maniacworld.com/frozen-in-grand-central-station.html

Speaking of Jonah...

I just came across this picture...



He was 3 years old. The cut across the nose (11 stitches) happened on a Sunday evening. The forhead incident (2 or 3 stitches) was about 3 days later...

Those were the days...

1 down 8 to go...

Jonah is the first in the next generation of Hansen's/Ellison's to compete in the Pinewood Derby. It was great fun. I think he loved wearing goggles while he and Jared worked on the car the very most.

Jared claims Jonah wanted to do a BYU car...I'm not buying it. It did turn out really nice though.

Honah had a great night. He came in 1st on 3 or his 8 heats. So now between the 3 boys Jared only has 8 more cars to do!

Happy Birthday Camille and Kristine!!

I've always felt so lucky that Jared has such great sisters that I LOVE!!! Camille and Kris are both celebrating birthday's this week. To keep it fair here are a few things I love about each...

• Although I was initially a little intimidated by her, I've always loved what a great big sister Camille is to Jared and how she took care of him while we were dating.
• Camille is so thoughtful...and will forever be trying to keep her family well stocked with good deals!!
• Camille is a lot of fun to be with...she's a great mom and a great friend.

• Kristine is a jokester and I love it!
• She is so generous.
• She has always been so good to me and my kids--and so willing to come and help out! She came out to California to watch Rachel twice when I had to go to girls camp. She has always jumped in and taken care of what needs to be done! She, too, is great friend.

I should not forget to mention my nephew, Joshua who is turning 4 today. We can't wait until you move to Boise in a few weeks!!

Happy day to all!