Thanksgiving

It was a whirlwind trip.  We left at 5:00 a.m. to try to make it up to Utah by a reasonable hour.  Ada was amazing.  We made sure to stop occasionally to let her run around

and before we knew it, we were in Midway!  With stops and a long lunch, it only took us about 12 hours!  Good thing we've been training Ada with long road trips since she was 3 days old.   We made it just in time to play some Just Dance and pull out the train set (Bryan's favorite toy). 

 

 And Grandpa gave guitar lessons.

We had a great time meeting a new cousin, eating delicious food and hearing about Grandma and Grandpa's recent trip to Australia.

Then it was off to South Jordan.  Time for Ada to meet her cousins from Alaska!

Tony, Julie and their kids moved to Fairbanks only a few weeks before Ada was born.  This was her first time seeing them in person and she loved them as much as the rest of her cousins.  These ones are a little older, though and can take care of her!

Carol, Mike and Ellie also came up from Phoenix and Jamie was able to get enough time off from his job to spend a few days with everyone.  This was the only meal out as a group,

 

but even at home, they were pretty chaotic- at least for our family.  We were so spoiled when we all lived in Utah- now these gatherings are too infrequent. 

 

We stopped in to see Grams and the aunts and got to meet baby Calvin

 

 and get a kiss from Grams.

 

The next day was spent cooking, and Ada was able to finally try her first Thanksgiving meal.

 

(of which she ate only the tomatoes)

On the way home, we were able to spend a couple of nights in Escalante and realize, again, how much we miss it.  Overall, it was a perfect trip.  We saw all of our family members and didn't really have any meltdowns from Ada unless she was getting hugged to death by cousin Ellie (just kidding, Ellie!).  She did so well on the drives that we have decided, that yes, it will be possible to do it again for Christmas!

Catch up

We haven't posted for a while, so here are some photos from the last month.
Ada likes to practice safety with her dad.
Us girls went down to Phoenix to give Bryan some needed quiet study time, and to play with Carol and Ellie and see the new puppy!
We also went to an amazing Chinese market that had gardens
and a two-seated shopping cart!
It has started to get colder here in Flagstaff, and Ada is excited about all the cute new winter clothes.
I guess we haven't mentioned it for a while, but Ada is still wearing her patch for about 5 1/2 hours a day. And she's doing really well with it.
I have read horror stories about other kids having to deal with "patch time" and I have come to the conclusion that we have one of the most tolerant children in the world. She doesn't like the patch, but as soon as we put it on, she usually just forgets about it and goes about her business. She also relaxes and even gets excited when we put her contact lens in in the morning. We're taking all of this as a good sign and hope that it means she is able to see well with her lens. Her cooperation could all go downhill as she gets older, so we will take what we can get right now.

Obachan and Ojichan came down to Sedona and rented a house for us all to stay in for a weekend. This was the view from the rooftop patio.
It was a great weekend. We got to go hiking,

we got to relax,

we celebrated Obachan's birthday,
and the grandparents got what they came for:Lots of granddaughter time. Now if we can only convince them to move down here.

For Halloween, we didn't take her trick or treating, but she got to don the horse costume to show to every guest we had
and attend a costume playgroup at the library.
Next Halloween will probably be a little more meaningful to her.

This last photo is from the dentist's office. Bryan and I went in to get some work done. He was watching Ada while I was having my teeth cleaned, but his turn came up in the middle of it and he had to leave her with me. The hygienist cleaned my teeth while Ada just laid on me and watched. I don't know if she was paralyzed with fear or just fascinated, but I barely felt her move, and the hygienist said she was awake the whole time. It was pretty amazing.

Family

Even though we live in a different state now- which actually feels like a different country than Utah sometimes, we are lucky enough to still be close enough for the occasional visit from family. Carol and Mike moved to Phoenix a month before we moved to follow a similar life path. Now we live closer to their family than we have before, and as great as that is now, it's going to get even better as Ada is able to grow up with her cousin Ellie (oh, and we get to see Mike and Carol every once in a while). I think it's been agreed that they have to come up to our high elevation during the summer to avoid the 110+ degree temperatures and we will be down there when we can sunbathe in January. Last weekend, Mike was busy with school, but Carol and Ellie were able to come for a short visit.

We took advantage of the amazing park system of Flagstaff. There are at least 3 quality playgrounds within a short walk from here. We went to the library where I got my first card in about 7 years! Bryan took them to another park in the bike trailer.

And we just let the girls hang out together.

When Carol and Ellie had to leave, we greeted more visitors...

Grandma and Granpa! Ada was really excited to see them. When we go up north for a visit, things are usually pretty chaotic with running around to doctors appointments and other obligations, so it was nice to actually get to just hang out and do things together. We visited Walnut Canyon, which was still as amazing, and hiked around Sunset Crater.

It was a great weekend for all, I'd say.

Back Home

We managed to make it back to Escalante for a weekend to take care of some house-cleaning and yardwork (anyone want to buy a very nice, if tiny house in Escalante?). Ada was able to play in the rain as soon as we got there.


She loved it, even if we had to wrap her up in a dry towel for a while after her lips started turning blue. We got to see everyone at Toni's going away party, and even sang a little karaoke.
The rest of the weekend was yardwork, which Ada was so happy to help with.And we got to leave with boxes full of tomatoes, kale, chard, beets, kohlrabi and onion from our very much missed garden. It was a good weekend.

The Hospital.

We thought Ada was recovering from her week-long cold, then one day she woke up cranky and unwilling to sleep. As the day progressed, her breathing got faster and faster, and she finally started getting a minor fever. So we took her in to the ER. It was the only place still open at 7:30 p.m. This was during our wait, before we realized that it was probably a little more serious than we thought. Looking at the picture now, it's obvious that Ada knew before we did. They ran tests and looked at her x-rays, but couldn't figure out what was wrong. So we spent 5 hours in the emergency room waiting for the busy doctors to look at test results and figure out what to do next. Seeing/hearing everything that was going on around us made us finally realize how big a city Flagstaff really is. A hospital emergency room is maybe a good gauge of that?
One of the nurses was able to get Ada on oxygen, so she was finally able to fall asleep and breathe a little easier. After more waiting, we were finally admitted to the pediatric department for the night. For the next few hours, Ada stayed on oxygen, had bronchial treatments and an IV to rehydrate her and she started perking back up. So we got discharged earlier than we were anticipating. Which was a relief for all of us- especially her. We were able to leave that afternoon, not knowing what had invaded her body, but glad that it was on its way out.
If nothing else, we feel more like "locals" now, having experienced the emergency room. And our daughter is back to her healthy, happy self.

Flashback

We have somehow ended up with six cameras- all of which we use occasionally. Needless to say, it's difficult to keep track of everything. I can't believe we forgot to put these up:

Ada's birthday party!
Dana was kind enough to make her a ladybug cake...which, through no fault of Dana's, Ada hated. This is a picture of her as she was gagging and spitting it out. Allysia thought it was hilarious!
As compensation for forcing her to try frosting, she got to play with rocks.

For her third birthday celebration of the week, Grandma and Grandpa came down bearing gifts. But her favorite part, of course, was the packaging.

These pictures are from our recent trip to Phoenix- swimming time!
Ellie's so lucky to have a swimming pool a hundred feet from her front door. Even if it is too hot to swim sometimes, it being Phoenix, and all. Ada, of course, loved it.
We finally made it to Walnut Canyon National Monument. This is possibly one of my favorite things we've seen since we got to Arizona! The ruins are scattered throughout the cliffs in one layer of alcoves that lines the walls. It was impressive. And the hike was beautiful. I highly recommend it to everyone. If you come visit us, we will take you there.
The rest of the day was spent gorging on fair food at the Coconino County Fair. It was the first fair Bryan and I had been to in a long time and it was pretty exciting.
We decided to drive up to the ski resort outside of town to get an idea of what it was like. It was an amazing view
and Bryan got one of my favorite shots of Ada so far.She was taking her first walk on an alpine trail. I think she loved it.