Friday, April 29, 2011

The Royal Wedding

dWell. In the last week I have had a variety of deep subjects on my mind. With the recent tornado disasters, still processing/pondering how we might help Japan more, pondering what we will do in case of an emergency, and how to best improve our food storage situation. . . It has been a fun day to read the news, look at pictures and watch ABC's special 20/20 on the Royal Wedding. (whew! What a run-on sentence!)

Before today, I didn't have too much interest in the details of the Royal Wedding. But I was curious what the dress would look like, and what the cake would like.



I was not disappointed!! I loved the dress! It was so unique, loved the lace long sleeves, and how the veil laid on her head. You could still see her beautiful face too. Did you know the tiara was borrowed from the queen? The cake, amazing. They had practiced for months... for the right look and taste. There is so much detail!
But as I have seen the coverage I keep think, "It is amazing there is something so formal and full of traditions in this day in age." It was very neat to watch, it really is a fairy tale.

Hats. Hats. Hats. Some were beautiful that made me think it would be fun if hats were a part of our culture or traditions. And then there were some... that... well, made me grateful hats are not a part of our culture.

What a crowd!! Absolutely unbelievable. I'm not sure if I would have attended if we lived there, but probably... what a historic event. I heard the country got Friday and Monday off for the event. Also, they had a few paid holidays on the calendar already... so if one played their cards right they could get an 11-day stretch of vacation only using 3 days of PTO! Now that would be nice.

The Beckhams... At first when I saw this photo I thought it was neat David Beckham was wearing a medal. But on 20/20 an interviewee said it was quite tacky he wore the medal - he even wore it on the wrong side. It was not an appropriate occasion for such accessories. Hmm...
Anyway...

The kiss. So Perfect. I love that William gave into the crowd and asked Catherine for another kiss!
They are such a perfect couple. Seth and I were discussing how they seem so happy, in love, and "real". Kate is perfect for the new role she just married in to. It almost makes me giddy how real this fairy tale seems to be.
So... yea. I just felt like I should post on this eventful day about such a happy event!


Look at that face!

Oh, and the car... Barbara Walters only described it as a "convertible". That made Seth upset, it is an original Aston Martin!! C'mon people...

Tuesday, April 19, 2011

Grass

Isn't this hilarious!? We had to get it on video... hopefully it won't be long when she realizes how good grass feels on bare feet.

Saturday, April 9, 2011

Scarlett lately

My nephew Gage, see the last post, won 3rd place in that baby photo contest. . . So close. Out of almost 500 kids, that's pretty dang good!! He didn't win his much needed swing set. :( Life goes on . . .

Scarlett is growing, growing! I was just looking at some pictures from a memory card and figured I could make another post on the blog, of course it's about her... again...
One of my college roommates from Jr/Sr year at BYU has a little girl just a week older than Scarlett. Huffy (Lisa) And her little Ashlyn stopped by one afternoon while they were in town. It was SO Nice to catch up with Huffy and see her cute little Ashlyn. Scarlett seemed a little more obnoxious/feisty around sweet, calm and content Ashlyn. But maybe these two can still be good friends some day. . .

Scarlett loves to do "half hand stands", not sure what to call them. Last night she was actually trying to dance in this position, silly girl. We're thinking she may be ready to learn a somersault soon?

We have a few beaded necklaces around. She is always wearing one. It's the one thing she can successfully put on herself!! It's pretty cute when she tries to put on other clothes, but at least the necklace is an easy one for her.

She is almost getting close to imitating words, I think. It depends on her mood. She knows the word "no" that's for sure! If we tell her "no" to something, she usually repeats it over and over at a stuffed animal or our cat, Raja. It's pretty funny. "Scarlett, no. Don't play with Raja's food." Scarlett - "no no no no no no" pointing to a stuffed animal or shaking her head. We're trying to teach her "yes". . . sometimes she'll just do the "ssssss". It's pretty freaking cute.

I loved her hair this morning. :)

Monday, March 28, 2011

Please Vote!

My Brother and Sister-in-law have entered their little boy in a baby photo contest.

This is my Nephew, Gage. There are a lot of adorable kids entered in this contest, but I promise it's not worth looking through the other contestant's photos! This little boy has the most handsome face of them all.

Would you please Vote for him?
To vote - click HERE.


The winner gets a swing set. And my brother's little girl and this little boy really need a swing set. In fact, they've wanted one for a long time. For the last few summers my niece, almost 5 years old, has begged her dad and grandpa (my dad) to build her a swing set... but it hasn't been able to happen yet. Help their dreams come true!!

In order to vote you do need to register your E-mail, because they only let you vote once. But you don't receive any spam or even a confirmation E-mail, promise! So here are the steps...

1. Click on this link...
2. Click "Vote Now"
3. Enter your E-mail address <- don't worry, they don't send you anything or use it at all.
3. Click on circle # 324 . . .and enter your name/ gender / birthdate / zip code. Also, be sure to answer the three questions "no" to make sure you don't receive any unwanted e-mails.

Thanks for helping out and voting!! I have the best family and friends ever, Thanks!

Sunday, March 27, 2011

Primary

I don't have a real story to share, like my last post about teaching Primary. . . But I thought I'd just post anyway.

Seth let me sleep in this morning, he got up with Scarlett. Well, I got her a bottle at 7:30 and she slept until 9:00, that's when Seth got up. I got up for the day at 11:00. I know, that's ridiculous, right!?! I agree, it is. I got up, then Scarlett and Seth went down for a nap. Why is it that Sundays are always the super sleepy/tired day? When you have church at 1:00pm it's hard to not just want to sleep the morning away. Anyway!

I read through my lesson again, made chocolate chip cookies to take to the class, and found video clips I could use to enrich the lesson. The lesson was "Jesus Christ heals the sick". I watched "Finding Faith in Christ" and part of "The Testaments". It had been too long since I've watched these favorites. I love this quote from "Finding faith in Christ",

"Faith is knowing that good will come out of whatever happens to us." . . . "Perhaps faith isn't faith until it is tried"

I think I've mentioned before, Even after being a missionary and teaching the basic doctrine of the Gospel for 18 months, I don't have confidence that I'm a good primary teacher. But today was a confidence booster. It was a good lesson, the class paid attention, I felt like it went well. Maybe it's because I showed a video and they got a cookie? :) I'm learning different things that help keep their attention and so they understand.

We read a lot of the miracles Jesus performed during his ministry. I shared about Scarlett getting a blessing last Monday to help her with the Pneumonia and Bronchiolitis. The girls were very interested in the clips I showed about Jesus raising the dead, healing leprosy, etc. The spirit was there, and I believe they felt it as well.

It has been an uplifting Sabbath day! I am grateful for the Gospel in my life. I have faith in my Savior, in the Plan of Happiness, and know Heavenly Father hears and answers our prayers. I am very excited to hear the Prophet and his apostles speak next weekend. We are very blessed to live in this last dispensation with the fullness of the Gospel!


Monday, March 21, 2011

A wedding, Family, and seriously sick.

* WEDDING *

A few Fridays ago, the 11th we went to Vernal for Seth's cousin's wedding. Aubrey and Preston came along for the road trip. We were contemplating just going another 45 min or so to visit a Dinosaur museum in Colorado, but not enough time. Haha, that's how far East we were!

The wedding was beautiful, everything was decorated so pretty. It was a nice ceremony too, RaeAnna's husband's uncle was able to perform the marriage. A lot of people came to support the happy couple!

Scarlett and Preston had fun running around and playing with each other. And Scarlett enjoyed getting a hitch in her stroller by the cute flower girls and her other 2nd cousins. We drove home after the reception, It's a beautiful drive!


* Family *
My family came into town on the 12th! It was my little sister's spring break, and the annual family scrapbook weekend. I didn't scrapbook this year, but helped my mom with just a few small things. Dad, Mom, Alicia w/ her kids Ellia and Beck, and Kara came for the week! It was sooo nice to have them in town and spend every day with them while they were here.

We spent a lot of time at my grandparent's house, in Pleasant Grove. I went out every morning and stayed until late in the evening every day.Scarlett loved playing with her cousins. Olivia is 4 1/2, Ellia 3 1/2, Gage is 2, and Beck is almost 20 months. She got around just fine with them all. They were nice to her too. Scarlett mastered going down stairs on my grandparent's carpeted 25ish stairs that lead to the basement. I guess one day when I was out with my sisters she ventured down them on her own, tumbled down... luckily it was on her bum? No one really saw but she didn't cry! I am glad Seth taught her how to go down properly a few nights later.

I failed at taking quality photos, always a regret. The week was busy chasing around 5 little ones, and we did a lot of fun things together. Sunday family dinner at Ben and Melissa's, Grandkids professional photo shoot, Went to Tangled at the cheap theater, Bowling, lots of shopping, ice cream, more shopping in Park City, playing with kids, scrapbooking, and out to eat at Tepanyaki with no kids, just us adults.
I found her this super cute hat for cheap, and sunglasses too... Here she is modeling them for us. I love her shirt, we found it at Saver's just in time for St. Patrick's day (which is when these were taken).

I really don't like when my family leaves town and I don't know when I'll see them again, it's the worse. I always fight tears saying "see ya later". It's really hard being so far away from most of them, I would love to move back to the Midwest.

They headed out Friday for their long drive home, and we returned to real life.

* Seriously Sick *



Scarlett started coughing Wednesday night and by Thursday late afternoon she was running a fever. Poor girl. She has had a pretty consistent fever ever since then. Saturday her fever wasn't going away with Tylenol and she was just miserable. You know your toddler is sick when they're okay to just sit on your lap, not moving for hours at a time.


Off to the after hours clinic...

The use this tape to keep the monitor on her foot when they check her oxygen levels. They gave it to her to play with before leaving the room and his sweetheart was trying to put it back on her foot! Smart little one, isn't she?The doc told us she has RSV and gave us the option of going to the suction clinic at the hospital. We decided it shouldn't hurt, hopefully it would make her better.Talk about torture! A respiratory therapist just did a shallow suction because Scarlett's sinus' really haven't been too congested. It is so sad, as a mom, to watch your baby get suctioned. They lay her on a blanket, tuck her arms in so she can't move, and then the parent holds the legs as the therapist suctions out their sinuses. Poor Miss. We went home and went to bed w/ a temp of 102.8.

Sunday... she woke up more wheezy with her fever. We took her to the suction clinic, and they didn't get much out. She had a fever throughout the day, even with alternating Tylenol and Motrin.

This morning she woke up with a temp of 103. We went back to the doctor. I'm glad Scarlett's pediatrician was available, she gave us the attention we needed. Since Scarlett's fever has been going on 5 days now, there had to be something more going on.

Scarlett has been so miserable, it was so sad to have to put her through everything this morning! It was pure torture!! You know all the poking and swabbing and tools that come along with an exam. She screamed the entire time. Poor thing. Diagnosis? The RSV test came back positive. RSV is a virus that can progress to bronchiolitis and/or pneumonia. After listening to her lungs and breathing it was clear she has bronchiolitis. Scarlett's right lung seemed to have more congestion, so we did a breathing treatment, which helped some. But our doctor was still concerned about congestion in her right lung. So we went and had a chest Xray done in Provo.

At this point I was pretty concerned. I did not want my baby to have pneumonia! I've never had it, and I just think of hospitalization when I hear pneumonia. Also, my little Scarlett is little, it was scary! At this point it was 11:30, way past her morning nap time. She was so mad at me and had been through enough, but at the Xray place I had to hold her still on the table for them to xray her. It was so sad to use everything I had to hold her down and as still as possible as she wailed and screamed.

After the Xray we picked up her Nebulizer at the home care clinic place. . Yay! Breathing treatments every 4-6 hours again until she gets better. Since we were right there at the Provo hospital I took her in for another suctioning. I really wish Seth was there, this was the most traumatic part of the day.

The previous two suctions they really didn't get much out of her. But I wanted to go in again b/c at this point I am going to do anything to prevent her from getting worse and developing pneumonia. Scarlett started screaming right when we entered the treatment room, she definitely remembered the previous visits. The Therapist said she wouldn't suction Scarlett unless she felt it was absolutely necessary. After getting her oxygen levels, respiratory rate, listening to her breath, and she had some retraction, the therapist said Miss definitely needed to be suctioned.

I tear up just thinking about this experience again. Ugh! She got strapped in the blanket, I had to hold her body down and hold her head still. . . I had the ipod playing "Somewhere over the Rainbow" Kamakawiwoʻole style. . . And the deep suctioning began. Scarlett's eyes rolled back into her head, she couldn't breathe, she was gasping and gagging and just not breathing. I got really mad at the lady and said she couldn't breathe, and then I just lost it... bawling. The therapist assured me she was okay... and Scarlett went back to just screaming. Then the lady stuck her tubes down the other nostril and the same thing happened... Scarlett's eyes were blood shot, face red, sweating, screaming, etc. It was absolutely terrible. But then all of the sudden Scarlett was calm and just breathing so easily. She was OK. And the therapist came around the table to comfort ME. :) SIGH It was terrible. Seth is taking her next time!!

That was the last thing on the list for her torturous morning. We got home, got the antibiotics started and she went to sleep. Poor Girl! I got a call from the Doctor's office about her Chest Xray and she does have Pneumonia. Luckily it's mild, she has a small patch of pneumonia that should be cleared up with the antibiotics. I was so terrified she would have pneumonia, but she will be okay.

Later I made Seth come home from work early so he could force her to drink. She's mildly dehydrated, and will not take a bottle/sippy cup/Popsicle/her favorite water bottle. The nurse explained she should get at least a teaspoon or two every 10 minutes. And we'd need to pry her mouth open if that's what it takes. TORTURE!!

Scarlett got another blessing tonight. I am so grateful for the power of the priesthood on the earth today. I saw an almost immediate difference in Scarlett. She's been very shaky, pale, can't walk on her own. She wouldn't leave our laps for days and just moans or cries constantly. Tonight she was rolling the basketball around, playing with Raja, lind of walking around, pulling out the DVD's! And She hasn't had a fever this evening, at all. I'm hopeful she's just going to get better from here.

We love our miss, and are grateful there are so many medical options to help her get better. She is so sweet, and so cute. We are a happy family!

I love this picture :) She got this bikini from a friend for her birthday, we had to try it on :) This summer she's going to be a babe at the pool.

Tuesday, March 15, 2011

Hartley Grandkids Photo shoot 2011

My parents are in town! with my sisters!! And my sister's kids, Scarlett's cousins!!!

Yesterday we had all the grandkids together, 5 of them, for a photo shoot. Scarlett didn't smile, at all. She just looks at everyone who is trying to make her laugh like they're crazy, and acting funny. Which they are. But she doesn't smile at it.

So... Here's a group shot
And Scarlett's poses, sheesh! What a poser... But not like an Olivia or Ellia kind of poser... sigh.They turned out pretty good! I actually didn't go, hoping Scarlett wouldn't just want me/cry/try to get Seth or I. Alicia, my older sister, didn't go either so her two kids would do better. They turned out pretty good!