The Lyon's Den

Sorry everyone it's been so long since I've updated. I hope you're prepared for a marathon of pictures. A lot has been going on, but my camera has only been taking blurry pictures so I was waiting to get pics with mom and dad's camera. Here's what's been going on.
We went to Bishop's Pumpkin Farm, like every other year. This year they made big improvements and there was more to do; including watching piggy races. They were so cute! The kids enjoyed the goats and petting zoo, jumping in hay, the train ride, climbing on huge tires and tractors and trains, and of course sharing a pumpkin spice cake. I did take pictures, but unfortunately it was with my blurry camera. Bummer.
For family night that next week, we painted the pumpkins the kids had picked out. Because of my blurry camera, I wasn't able to get a good picture of them until yesterday. Some of the paint had started chipping off because we forgot to spray them afterwards, so they're not quite as good as they once were.
Kelman with his "Jack the Pumpkin King" pumpkin, from Nightmare before Christmas

Carter and his Batman pumpkin of course

And Brechin chose an M&M


Kelman has been doing well with school still. However, getting him to let us leave him at the beginning has been a struggle. Once we're gone and he's warmed up he is fine. The teachers have been bribing him with stickers. He does enjoy it and has made some good friends, whom now are talking about play dates. I can't really fathom having another little kid at my house right now though with how crummy I've been feeling. A very nasty bug went around the whole family, but of course hit me harder with my pregnant immune system being down. I think we are pretty much over that; now it's just headaches and nausea. It will pass, and hopefully soon. I'm still happy to be pregnant, but it's not been as easy as I had hoped. Lots of mixed emotions into the batch this time that I've never experienced before. I just can't wait to hear this little one's heartbeat in another two weeks.
Next up would have to be the twins' birthday! It was on the 28th of this month, but we celebrated it on Saturday due to the fact that their Grandma was going to be out of town on the actual day. They didn't know the difference. They awoke to a family room full of Red and black streamers (representing batman and superman OF COURSE; which is who the twins think they are), and yellow and blue balloons with the batman and superman logo on them. I hand drew them all and I think next time, I will try to buy premade ones! They were excited none the less. We took them for their first time bowling and I think they enjoyed it. Unfortunately I forgot to get pictures of that. They were pretty cute though. After bowling, we went home for lasagna and cake and ice cream. Just to clarify, Brechin is Superman, and Carter is Batman. After dinner the boys were surprised by their nursery leaders, who brought them some brooms to be their quidditch brooms. They told us a story of one week in nursery when the boys wanted to play quidditch, but didn't have a broom. So they improvised. They grabbed their tiny pretzel rods from snacktime and stuck them between their legs and proceeded to fly around the room. Sister Sannar and her sister Joene got a kick out of it and found them some brooms online. They were thrilled to receive them.


Carter is in green and Brechin is in blue

Thanks Grandma and Grandpa Lyon for the cool sweatshirts and books!

Just talking on their new cell phones that we surprised them with from Disneyland

Superman/ Brechin getting ready for flight

Batman/ Carter is flapping his wings I believe to prepare for takeoff

I will be taking some pictures soon of them in their new cowboy boots that Grandma and Grandpa Stubz got them.

Oh yeah, the night before we celebrated Brechin and Carter's birthday, they all got to go trick or treating at the Courtyard (the assisted living where my grandparents live). They loved it. Because they didn't get their Halloween costumes (batman and superman jammies) until their birthday, they had to dress up as something else. Kelman was Buzz Lightyear, Carter was a cowboy, and Brechin was a pirate. I think that's about it for us for now. We will take pictures tonight at the Trunk or treat at church and of course tomorrow on Halloween. I hope everyone has a safe and fun Halloween.
Kelman - To infinity and beyond

Brechin, little pirate - Argg

Carter, my cowboy - Giddyup

The three little musketeers

I just got home from running errands and noticed my "Vote Yes on Prop 8" sign was missing from my yard. I got inside and had a message from the man in our ward who has been helping campaign, asking if our sign was stolen too. Apparently they are being stolen all over town! And these are the kind of people that we have backing up the "No" on Prop 8...criminals. We are simply stating our belief and our vote; not tearing anyone down. Then they come and steal off our property. This only makes me even more for Prop 8. I don't want to be associated with a group of people who will stand up for stealing just to get their point made. Bad point to make. I think it's very sad for the gay community that the type of people backing them up, are thieves! Anyhow, I just wanted to vent a little. I'm getting a new sign and possibly borrowing my parents' surveillance camera to catch the thieves stealing everyone's signs.

I got tagged by my dear friend Summer!! I was asked to go to the 4th file in my Pictures and select the 4th picture in that file. Here is what I came up with.

This is a goat from Apple Hill 2006. He's quite the looker isn't he?? My files are alphabetical. Now I get to tag 4 people to do the same thing.
Micah, Jill, Dan, and Kandis

After much agonizing over what to do with Kelman, I finally decided to start him in Preschool. Kelman has been experiencing a lot of anxiety, especially socially. He is still not real comfortable and happy in his primary class of two years. I had him evaluated with the Preschool Intervention Program, because of our concerns. We had wondered if he maybe had PDD (Pervasive Development Disorder), which is under the Autism spectrum. After some observation, the counselor concluded that Kelman must just have an Anxiety Disorder (not formally diagnosed though). I had been trying to get Kelman into preschool, although I was concerned how he would go to class without me. I figured he would just cry and cling to me for days; which is why he needed it even more so we wouldn't have to go through that during Kindergarten. Anyhow...I got a letter in the mail last week saying there was an opening at one of the preschools. Kelman had his first day on Friday, and he LOVED it. I had to stay the first half and then he allowed me to leave. All weekend, he was asking when he'd get to go back. Today he walked right in and didn't need me at all. Both days when I've gone to pick him up, his hair is all sweaty and messy from playing hard. I'm so excited!!! Some preschool was all he needed. He's still not a fan of church, because he says it's boring. He either cries or acts up. I think if they had some games and activities in there it might help. Any ideas of how to address that???
Unfortunately, preschool came up kind of last minute, so I didn't get any pictures until today after school.


Another exciting thing happened this weekend..... We borrowed my mom's fun sprinkler hose thingy for the kids to get wet and play with. We all got in our swimsuits and ran through it and swung on the swing set. While playing outside, I noticed we got some beautiful purple grapes from our grapevine!! I've never done grapes before, so I thought they were long gone since the leaves were turning brown. But finally, the grapes turned from green to purple and are edible! YAY!!! Hopefully we'll get even more next year.



Brechin

Saturday night I got to go to dinner and the Relief Society broadcast with my mom. We had a good time and the waitress at Applebee's was GREAT! We told her we were in a hurry, and we didn't have to wait for a single thing! It was wonderful. When I got home, Aaron was out in the family room and I found the twins asleep in the hallway. they had dragged their blankets and pillows out into the hall and fell asleep there together. I thought it was adorable.


That's about it for excitement for us. Oh yeah...except that we're gonna have a baby!!! I've been feeling healthy and strong and decided I was ready to go this road again. I feel really happy and confident that everything is going to be okay! That's about it for us.

We just got back from a three day trip to Disneyland and the beach! We took a long weekend and went with Aaron's parents. We were very fortunate to get some free tickets to park hop between California Adventure and Disneyland for two days. We had a great time and got to do some things we've never done before. It was especially neat because Kelman is tall enough to go on some of the bigger rides with us, like Soarin' Over California (a great, non scary ride). Both parks had a new ride we'd never been on; Finding Nemo, and Toy Story Mania (I think our favorite ride). Unfortunately we didn't get to see very many characters this time, but I think the kids were relieved to have less photo opps. I absolutely loved watching the kids in the Bug's life 3d show. Brechin started crying in the middle because it was kinda scary, so I took his glasses off for him to show him it wasn't real. He grabbed them from me and put them back on as he continued to cry. I think he was curious to see what happened next. Saturday was the day we went to the beach, and we had never been as a family. The kids were hesitant at the idea of a beach instead of Disneyland, but they ended up loving it, especially Kelman. Brechin didn't care for the cold moving water so much, so I just stayed on the sand and helped his Grandpa build a sand castle. It was so nice to have a vacation and to let Kelman unwind a little because he's been kind of uptight and anxious lately. He was pretty carefree at the beach, and it was a nice change! Oh yeah...and I can't forget to tell you about our little drive to the beach. We were driving down the freeway around Santa Monica and saw a cute little convertible old style car about like this one, but green.

I made a comment to everyone as we came up behind it, saying...I'll bet it's someone famous. Low and behold...we caught up to it, and it was Jay Leno, cruising along with the top down. He was driving at a comfortable pace and I tried to get Aaron to slow down to take a picture, but he wouldn't do it. =( Kinda funny though!

The beach was absolutely beautiful and not too crowded at all.


Kelman striking a pose in the water


Aaron and Brechin on The Buzz Light Year Astro Blasters




Kelman and I on the Jumpin' Jellyfish


On the Mark Twain boat




Carter and Tigger




The Pixar parade at California Adventure

In case you haven't read my last post, I think I've found my stalker! Are you ready for it... I'M MY OWN STALKER!!!! You might want to read my last post to better understand what's going on. Anyhow...I was at a friend's site and saw the Live Feed (that I have to the right) and noticed it said my visit was from Smartville, Ca. Well, I'm not from Smartville, but obviously my internet provider is! So I think I've been the one visiting my own page from Nevada City. My blog is my homepage so that's why I was getting so many visits from Nevada City. I was busting up laughing when I made this discovery! I'm such a nerd!

Soo.. my brother Micah told me about this thing called Google Analytics. It tracks who visits your blog or other webpages. It doesn't give names, but it gives locations and tells how many times a certain location (IP address) has visited your page in a 24 hour period. It updates every day and you can check to see what new visits have popped up. I've been doing this for over a week now, just out of curiosity; as has my mom. My point in this whole post, is to find out WHO is from Nevada City or Rough and Ready?!? I know you're reading this, so please leave a comment. Don't be afraid to leave a comment and show me who you are. Unless you enjoy being my private stalker!haha Even still...let's share the secret kay. Thanks!

We were disappointed that we haven't taken a camping trip this summer, so we decided to have one in our family room Saturday. We rearranged the furniture and made room for a tent, and set it up right in front of the TV. We gave each of the boys a sleeping bag and put a beanbag in the tent, and turned in a Christmas movie. The boys like to celebrate Christmas year round. We always have on, the Polar Express, The Grinch, Christmas with the Kranks (don't know why they like that one), and the Santa Clause III. Strange children. Anyway, we were supposed to make S'mores while camping, but we ended up going swimming at Grandma and Grandpa's and didn't get home until bedtime. Besides, Grandpa fed them banana splits while we were at his house. The kids only need so much sugar in a day. So, instead we did it Sunday after dinner, using the S'more maker my parents gave us for Christmas a couple of years ago. And they were yummy! Unfortunately we didn't get pictures of our S'more adventures, but here are some of the boys in their tent. Just kidding. I'm so sad!! I just went to put the pictures on my computer from the camera, and they're ALL GONE!!! One of the kids must have gotten to it last night and erased them. So sad! =( I guess you will all have to imagine how cute the boys were in their sleeping bags.

We planted a Gala Apple tree in our back yard shortly after we moved in; And this year we got about 8 apples from it. It was so fun to have our own fresh apples. They tasted good too. So, on Sunday I decided to make a homemade apple pie. It was so pretty and so yummy!!! I'm sad I don't have more apples to do more with, but I will next year. :)
Here is a picture of Kelman since I left him off my last post. And me with my apple pie. Oh yeah...and don't laugh at my Sunday Moomoo. It used to be my Grandma's.

It's been just over two weeks of potty training and the twins still don't quite have it down. I have to say; Carter and Brechin really do have a lot of successes in the potty. I think I just need another day for just me and them to do some refocusing. It seems like Brechin now has the ability to hold it, because he can sometimes stay dry all night, and during naps. I can also sometimes tell when he is needing to go, and I can get him to go on the potty. Carter is a little behind in that department, but still not without his successes. What got me started on the whole potty training bit was that one day, between my mom and I, we had changed about 15 diapers. It was insane...and expensive! Right around that time, my friend Donna told me about this lady in Chicago or something who runs a "Booty Camp". She was on some morning talk show discussing how she takes your child for 5 hours at a rate of $250. She feeds them all kinds of salty junk foods and really sugary drinks. All as a ploy to get them to drink even more and to have more opportunities to go on the potty. This lady also says it is important for the children to take responsibility for their own bodies and to make them clean up any accidents. We should be saying, "if you need to go potty, go on the potty," instead of, "do you need to go potty?" It supposedly makes a difference as to who is responsible for their body. Anyhow, I decided to give it a try. I cannot even tell you how hard and frustrating it was to just focus on potty training for at least 5 hours straight! That first day was awful. What this lady doesn't warn you of, is that by feeding your children all this garbage all day is going to result in a huge sugar rush...times 2!! So, I had these two little boys running mad, bottomless, through the whole house. BUT...they did have many successes and learned what the potty was all about. The booty camp lady asks that you take an additional three days to focus with them and then guarantees no accidents. Now maybe my following three days weren't so focused because we still aren't quite there, and we're going on day 16. I'm proud of the boys and their success, but I also can't wait until we're completely done with diapers and pull ups. The pull ups have been great for them, but they are so darn expensive, times 2!
Okay, so now for a funny story. I believe it was either day 1 or day 2 of the potty training, and the twins still hadn't gone poo poo on the potty. Well, a couple of things. 1. Brechin knew I kept saying, "you need to put your poopy in the potty." So...Brechin did just this. He pooped on the floor...picked it up....and put it in the potty. So your first rule in potty training has got to be, be careful what you tell your child. They take everything literal! 2. I was on the computer or something and heard Carter and Brechin making growling noises in the other room. I got up to go see what they were doing and low and behold... here lies a poopy on the floor, and Carter and Brechin, together, were holding the end of a stick horse whacking...yes I said WHACKING, the poop! Gross!! It was Brechin's first poopy during potty training, and I guess when they saw it lying on the ground they just thought...hm...let's whack it!! My mom called it poop polo!
So there are some of our latest adventures.

4th of July weekend we had a family reunion with my side of the family. We had a great time and it was a good distraction for me a lot of the time. We went to Soda Springs which is about an hour and a half east of here; up in the mountains. We mainly did a lot of hanging out, but had some games in there too. Our family reunions kind of remind of the movie Dan in Real Life. Except I couldn't convince everyone to go outside and do Yoga. We did however stand in a circle holding hands, passing a hula hoop all the way around without ever letting go of eachother. When the music stopped, whoever had the hula hoop on their person got to go eat dinner. Thanks for the idea Donna; it worked great! My dad made a homemade rocket launcher and each family had to design a rocket and we timed them. Ours didn't get the fastest but it was still good fun. They occasionally launched Water balloons too. :) One of the two houses was right on the lake and had a trampoline in the backyard that the boys loved playing on. At night we would sometimes play games or watch a movie and just relax. On the morning of the 4th most of us went to a parade in Truckee. Candy was thrown, the kids got free necklaces and stickers and we all got sprayed by squirt guns and a hose from a fire truck. Oh and I can't forget about our talent show. My family along with my brother Jared's family did a dance to Cotton Eyed Joe. It was hilarious and great fun. It was so nice to be able to hang out with family and laugh a lot. I can't wait until we have our next one; which I'm sure will have even more family members by the time it happens. At the reunion we learned of at least one more addition that will be coming to the family. Congrats Josh and Courtney!
I want to thank Jared and Debbie for coming and supporting me; and staying for such a long time. I know that had to of been difficult to be away from their home for so long but it meant so much to me. It was so great of them constantly checking on me and doing anything I needed from them; including Debbie making me rolls one day because it was the only thing that sounded good. My boys, especially Kelman, will miss their cousin Hannah. He was just telling me today how much he loves her. And I will miss that "not so" little Ben!!! He always made me smile. Thanks again guys!!

Kelman feeding his newest cousin Lacey

Our Cotton Eyed Joe dance

Brechin playing darts with his cousin Jackson

Carter and Brechin jumping on one of the bunk beds in the loft. They were also chucking books out the window, which was three stories high.

The whole family. We had to draw stick figures on our backs for each member of our own family.

Things have slowly been getting back to normal at the Lyon household. I finally have the kids to myself, except for days that Jared decides to come over and help out for a bit. I'm back to cooking and shopping again which is a tad of an adjustment. I went to Walmart today for the first time in about 2 months. I must say I didn't do it alone; Jared and Debbie helped with my kids so I wouldn't go insane while doing it. It was a huge help. I'm so glad to have them here right now. They have been so fun to hang out with and a good distraction for me as well.

Life has defintately been a huge adjustment for me and will probably continue to be for a while. I thought I would breeze right through the hard parts after losing Gianna but I guess I was wrong. I thought I did quite well, considering, the first two weeks but it seems to have gotten worse. I'm hoping that once I feel completely recovered from surgery that I will feel better all around. We'll just have to wait and see and take things slowly. I'm really looking forward to our family reunion next week; it will be so much fun.

Now onto some more fun things we've done in the last week or so. We have gotten to play with the Stubblefields quite a bit and the boys and I have loved it. My brother Jared and his family have been here ever since Gianna's funeral and are here until after the reunion. We've gotten together to play games, go out to lunch, and have FHE together. Last monday they taught us how to make Flubber for FHE and the boys had so much fun. Then last thursday we went to Ikea, Fairtytale Town, and Funderland with the my sister Andrea's family and Jared and Debbie, with their kids. It was a very long day for me but I think everyone had a great time.

Grandpa Stubblefield with half of his grandchildren on Father's Day.

Kelman with his cousin Hannah. He begs to play with her every single day since they've been here. He does torment her at times but loves her to pieces.

Carter being thrown in the air by his uncle Jared. The boys now know uncle Jared as the wild uncle who roughs them up. Whenever he comes over they get their pillows ready for throwing.

Kelman playing with Flubber...our new found concoction thanks to the Stubblefields!

The boys and their cousins at Fairytale town. They're all pulling Cinderella's carriage.

Me and the boys at Fairytale Town. It was difficult to get them to pose with me. :(

Carter riding his pony Cheyenne.

Brechin on his pony named Rocky.

Kelman and his pony whose name he can't remember.

The boys and their cousins on their ponies and horses outside of Funderland.

Gianna's memorial service turned out very nice. If you'd like to read more about it and see pictures, you can visit my mom's blog.
"http://mapastubz.blogspot.com"

I don't have the stomach to write about the whole heart wrenching process right now, but I wanted to share some pictures and a brief rundown of our last moments with our sweet baby girl. Gianna Rae Lyon was born May 29th at 5:46pm. She was 2 lbs 7oz and 14 inches long. Gianna was only 30 weeks gestation when she was born. I was at the hospital for a routine Non Stress Test to make sure everything was going okay and Gianna's heartrate indicated that she might have been struggling. After further monitoring, her heart rate began to get worse and the doctors decided to do an emergency c-section. My parents were able to make it in time and be in the room with me, but Aaron arrived about 10 minutes after our baby girl was born. She had many problems and we had to make a very difficult decision saturday May 31st. We decided to take Gianna off of all the machines. I couldn't bear standing there watching my baby girl look so weak and hear all of the machines constantly beeping, indicating something was wrong. We finally got to just hold our little butterfly and she passed in my arms after about an hour. We enjoyed our time with her and wouldn't trade it for anything in the world. She is so precious to us and we cherish her presence in our lives. Our lives and testimonies will forever be altered for good because of this little angel. I didn't get to share Gianna with many people because she didn't live very long so I'd like to share a few pictures with all of you.