Ellie's vacation

Ellie and her Grandma Bonnie left for Michigan on Wednesday to see her cousins Ben and Abby. I have never seen Ellie so excited about something. She emptied her piggy banks to help pay for the flight - even after we told her she could buy an awesome toy with her money. It was really cute to see how excited she was.

I was surprised at how hard it was to put her on the plane! I had to hide my sadness until she was gone, but then I cried on the way back to my car. Here's a picture of her with her grandma getting on the plane... Cute little bug!! I love her more than life!

Haiti

Last year while John and I were visiting the Dominican Republic, I really wanted to see Haiti. Some of my family had been there, and said it is indescribable. They were right. The border bridge had just closed for the day, so we couldn't cross over (it closes at like 2pm on Sundays), but people were going back and forth across the river, which serves as the border, and you can see right into Haiti. It was incredibly sobering to see the living conditions in Haiti...it's hard to comprehend unless you've seen the poverty first hand. And to see it is life changing. Over the course of the past 4 weeks as I've watched the tragedy of the earthquake I have been so sad. The newscasters have tried to show the poverty - and it is just as they say. They are not sensationalizing the poverty at all....there's no way to over-dramatize such poverty. I've seen just a small glimpse of it myself.

I have wondered over and over (and talked to John about it) why Heavenly Father would allow something SO tragic to happen to people who already suffer more than most of us will ever have to. Why? It seems so heartless, so callous. And the only reason I've been able to come up with is that now the world is aware of Haiti and the plight of it's people. And now that people are aware, perhaps in years to come (none too soon), the rebuilding of Haiti will allow Haitians to live in better circumstances than they did before the earthquake, and certainly than they do now. That is the only silver lining I can come up with...that it has caused us to stop and think about others and has allowed us to serve...and in turn, the lives of the Haitians will be blessed in the long run.

And, just another thought - a tangent, really - aren't Americans amazing?! When I've seen on the news how much $$ Americans have donated to Haiti - especially in comparison to any other nation on earth, it is astounding. Americans have compassion that doesn't seem to eminate from others around the world. Even as our economy suffers, we are a generous people. It has made me proud to be an American.

My heart has always been with, and I've always felt a kinship for Africa (I served my mission there)...and I've always wanted to do a humanitarian vacation there. I still do...BUT, now I feel such a strong desire to do the same in Haiti. I feel like because I've been so close to where such tragedy has taken place, I have a connection there. Silly, I know. But, I'm going to start saving my money to go back to Haiti and do a humanitarian vacation. Help rebuild wherever I can. The past several weeks, I have wished I had medical training - to be able to help so immediately. It will likely be a couple of years before I get to Haiti, but I am determined to go. And it's interesting, because we hear about the poverty in Africa - which is very real also, and I certainly don't intend to minimize it - but it's a half a world away. Haiti is so close...It's closer than Puerto Rico! And yet, they live in conditions comparable to the poorest countries in Africa.

The following pictures aren't great - as I've said MANY times, John and I are terrible photographers - and I don't think they capture what we saw, but they do show a little.

This little girl was so cute. Her mom was doing their laundry in the river right below the bridge, and her dad was bathing. We saw several people bathing in the river.

Disneyland

Last week I took the kids to Disneyland. By myself.

Within 5 minutes of arriving at the airport, I had three people say, "Wow. You're brave! Are you alone?". I know they were really thinking, 'She's nuts!'. With each of our carry-ons (we didn't check any luggage), backpacks, a double stroller, a carseat, and a booster, it was A LOT of crap. It took us at least 15 minutes to make it through security. Thank goodness we were the last people in our line. Security probably could see how long it was going to take, and just closed down the lane :).

Anyway, it was a lot of fun! John was in LA the whole week working, so we saw him at night after work. And my brother Nate was there one day, and my sister Emily was there too! Emily's kids are a lot older than mine, so unfortunately we didn't see them too much...but when we did, it was a lot of fun.

I promised myself to be good at taking pictures, and so I even started with one on the airplane. And then my camera battery died. I was so ticked! Thank goodness Ellie had her Mickey Mouse camera we gave her for birthday - it's a great little camera for a little kid camera...as you'll see by the pictures.

Ellie was just getting over being sick when we got there, and Jack was in the middle of a cold, so that was kind of a bummer. But we had beautiful weather, and a wonderful time. And yes, I renewed my annual pass :).

On the airplane - Jack's 1st time in his very own seat.

Jack was so funny about the characters! He'd see them, call out to them, run up to them, and then get really mad and run away. He was TICKED I made him be so close to Minnie.

He did however, LOVE Lightning McQueen. He thought he was AWESOME standing next to him in ELLIE'S sunglasses. Isn't he cool?! He sure thought so!
Ellie took this picture...

Unfortunately, I started getting a REALLY bad sore throat while we were there. I felt pretty worn down, but was still able to enjoy it. We flew home on Saturday, and by Sunday I was as sick as I have ever been. Ever. I couldn't even get out of bed. It was TERRIBLE! I'm pretty sure it was the swine flu...chills, aches, worst sore throat I've ever had, cough, congestion, runny nose...the works.

What's funny is that I NEVER get sick. John and I were just talking the last week (before I got sick) about how we're hoping our kids will get a good balance of our immune systems. My immune system is awesome and I can go years without a cold. Even when my whole family gets sick, I'll somehow not get sick - kissing and all :)! So, because I never get sick, I never get a flu shot. BUT, we decided Ellie and Jack should get the H1N1 vaccine and since it's a mist, Ellie wanted me to show her that it didn't hurt. So, the sucker that I am, I took the bate. And wouldn't you know, I started feeling worn down right after, and then ended up sicker than I've ever been. I think I'm done with flu vaccines!

I'm feeling 10 times better than I was on Sunday and Monday. Now I just feel like I have a NASTY cold. But at least I can function.

Thank GOODNESS John had his swine flu vaccination way back in October, so he's been just fine. I can only imagine what would happen if he ended up with this.

Okay, enough whining.

I'm embarrassed to say that the reason I took Ellie & Jack to Disneyland is because I made a deal with Ellie about her binky. I'm such a sucker! She's over FOUR and still had a binky. So finally, I told her if she gave it up on January 19th (we chose the date together and put it on her calendar), I'd take her to Disneyland. I waited WAY too long to take it away, I know. And it hasn't been a big deal at all. The only thing I felt bad about (and almost caved in!) was that she got sick the very day she gave it up, so she cried for it that night. And that was it.

While looking at Ellie's camera...I came across some super cute pictures of her.

Ellie's 4th Birthday party!!