Little Miss Ava

I find that I talk alot about Melissa and William but not much about Ava. Shame on me! Ava is doing so well. Since we've taken her off dairy, yeast, and sugar she has really made alot of progress. Last Thursday she went on a field trip to McDonald's with her class. The teachers told me how much fun she had. She loves the kids in her class. I had a meeting with her teachers and the school district person over the pre-school the other day. I had all three kids with me when I went. When she got in the classroom she started scooting over to the toys with William in tow. You could see on her face that she was showing William that this was her territory and she knew where everything was. It was kind of like she was showing him the ropes. It was so cute. What wasn't so cute was William getting the jagged edged scissors and cutting her ear. I told the teachers he is going to be a handful for them.

Ava is climbing on the couches and the recliner by herself. She will try to say any word you ask her to say. She counts to 3. She can say most of the colors. It's really amazing how far she has come. Yesterday she did the seatbelt up on her wheelchair. Sunday she gave the closing prayer in Sharing Time. It was so cute I almost cried. The kids in Primary are so good with her. They will sit behind her and help her do the actions to Book of Mormon Stories or whatever song they are singing. I really feel like Heavenly Father knew we needed to come here and we feel extremely blessed to be here. I just took the picture above of her. She's our little sweetheart!

Catchin' Up!

It has been awhile since I've posted anything. I've always had good intentions to post at least once a month but I'm not doing so well. We have taken a couple of trips lately so I will write about that. Our first trip was to Alamo. We went on the 4th of April to stay with my parents in their new house. Well it's new to them, however, they have done so much renovating that it could be called new. It looks great and it's so much larger than their old place. There's actually room for everyone to visit comfortably. Anyway, we went to Alamo to walk the Eric Lee Memorial 5K. It was nice because my entire family was there. All nine kids with their spouses or soon to be spouses and their kids. I know someone took a picture at the race but I haven't seen it yet. Anyone that has a picture of us all please send it to me. The race was actually fun. Nathan took Ava and William in the double stroller and walked with most of my siblings. Then my Dad, Melissa, and I walked together in last place. Melissa carried baby Melissa the whole way. I don't know how she did it but she did. I'm sure her back hurt when she was done. After the race we all met back at my Mom and Dad's. My cousin Joni, her husband Mark and their two boys Parker and Tyler came to visit. Also my Aunt Carolyn and my cousin Melissa came from Vegas as well and my Aunt Deanne came from Overton to visit. We grilled hamburgers and hotdogs and had a birthday party for Stefanie. It was her 40th birthday on the 5th. I hope I look as young as she does when I'm 40:) That's only 5 years away. We had so much fun visiting and eating and the kids had so much fun playing. My dad had just gotten 3 baby lambs and the kids had so much fun playing with them. All in all it was a great trip.

Our next trip was to Logandale for the fair. We went and stayed with Janet and Berkley. It was good to be in Logandale at the Marshall's since we haven't been there since before Thanksgiving. I think the last time we were there was for Matthew and Madelyn's blessings. That has been awhile. We arrived Friday afternoon and took all three kids to the rodeo with us. Thank goodness we had Janet there to hold Melissa. She was the best of the 3. I had to hold Ava because she wouldn't go to anyone else and Nathan kept William. It was pretty windy and cold. Ava didn't like the loud noises so she curled up in a blanket and hid out most of the time. William loved the horses and all the hoopla....for about 30 minutes! Nathan had to leave with him a couple of times. Melissa slept most of the time but Janet did have to get up and leave with her toward the end. I wouldn't do it again but it wasn't too bad. Saturday Nathan and I got to go to the fair by ourselves for a few hours. It was nice to have a break from the kids. Thank you Tricia, Michelle, Justin, & Kerrie for watching them for us. We owe you all. Later that evening we took the kids back and walked around for a couple of hours. Nathan had a horrible tooth ache but was a trooper. We hung out with Rose and her kids for a little while. It was nice to actually be with Rose and her not having to run here or there because she doesn't work the fair anymore. I'm sure it was nice for her too. Then we met up with the Marshall's that went to the rodeo and all got something to eat. Gotta love the fair food! Finally when the fair was closing we decided we would go home. Our truck was parked out by the carnival so we had to walk through there. We decided we would let the kids ride a few rides before we went home. So William and Ava rode two rides together and then William rode the last ride by himself. They were little motorcycles and he had a hard time reaching the handlebars. He started crying shortly after the ride started. Luckily a kid came late so the guy stopped the ride to let him on and I had him take William off. I'm sure if he felt like he wasn't going to fall he would have loved it. I think we'll get them carnival tickets for one day next year. I must say it was the most fun I've had at the fair since I was a kid. I never realized how much fun it is to watch my kids have fun. We stayed until Monday morning because Nathan was in so much pain from his tooth he had to see the dentist before we left. Thank goodness they fit him in!

We're back home now and enjoying the warmer weather. It has been really windy and sometimes cold but I can see that spring is not far away. It's my favorite time of the year and I want to enjoy it before it gets too hot! May will be a busy month. Nathan & I are going on a cruise, Lance & Natalie are getting married, and I believe Josh graduates. I still can't believe he is that old. Crazy! Anyway, I'm looking forward to seeing you all sooner or later.

Our Little Home Depot Boy

As most of you know there are cabins being built here at the Rose Ranch. Nathan has been working hard to get them ready for the warm season. In order to get all of the things he needs for them he goes to Home Depot on a regular basis (almost daily). Most of the time I can talk him into taking William with him. William does not like to be inside all day and goes stir crazy if he can't go outside. So often he'll go with Nathan to Richfield which almost always entails going to Home Depot. Sometimes he's tired and can't last as long as his dad needs to be there. He gets to know all of the workers and he helps them scan items and bag them. Last night Nathan and Justin took him there and the cashier gave him his own Home Depot apron.

We're still all trying to get well. I've come down with a pretty nasty cold. Ava and William have bad coughs and the baby seems like she is getting another cold. As long as it's not RSV again I can handle it. Nathan seems to be the only healthy one here. He is big on prevention. He takes lots of vitamins so he doesn't catch anything. The cabins are looking awesome. They have power and water hooked up to them. They should have the bathrooms (separate from the cabins) built today. We are excited for the vacation season. We hope to see as many of you as can come this summer.

Bittersweet Weekend

This weekend was both bitter and sweet. We'll start with the sweet first. Justin and his brother-in-law Andrew came Tuesday night to help Nathan with the cabins. Wednesday Berkley and the Dransfields came to visit and Thursday morning Janet came up. So we had lots of visitors which I love. It was really good to see the Dransfields. We haven't seen them since Thanksgiving. Lyndsie is getting so big and she crawls around and pulls herself up to the couch. She is so advanced for her age. It was fun to see her and my kids loved playing with her. We didn't do much in the way of going anywhere but we did go for walks outside to the cabins. The weather was pretty warm until Thursday night when we got a little snow. The men mostly worked and us women visited. The Dransfields left Friday evening and the rest left Saturday afternoon. It was nice to have all of them here and hopefully they will all come back soon.

Now for the bitter. My kids have all had colds but Thursday night Melissa woke up crying because she couldn't breath. Her cough got a lot deeper so I decided I had better take her to the doctor since it was going to be the weekend. So I took her Friday morning. The doctor sent us to the hospital to get chest x-rays to see what she had. Well it turned out to be croup and they gave her a shot of steroids for it. He said it would work in 7 to 24 hours. So I brought her home and she was okay for awhile. She still coughed but she was eating and sleeping fine. Then Sunday night she just didn't sleep. Her cough got even worse and she couldn't hold down anything. So this morning I called the nurse and told her what was going on. She told me to take her back to the hospital and they were going to do more x-rays and test for RSV. The RSV test was not so fun for her but she survived. We went back to see the doctor for the results and he told me she has bronchitis. He said it's an infection in her chest and could be treated with antibiotics. That was bad news but I told him I was glad it wasn't RSV. He told me he forgot he ordered that test. So he looked up the results and regretfully told me she had RSV as well. That's all I need is my nice, fat, healthy, little girl to have RSV. I have been so happy that she's been so healthy. My other two had been on several doses of antibiotics by her age. Anyway, we have a nebulizer and have to give her breathing treatments every 4 hours. She's also supposed to be taking amoxicillin but can't keep it down. So I have to call the doctor again in the morning. I'm hoping they can give her a shot instead. She's not so good at taking medicines. I have to take her back on Wednesday so we'll see if she's getting any better.

That's our weekend fun and saga. Hopefully our week will be better. The picture of her above was taken during all of this sickness. She's still happy for the most part. At least during the day. Not so much at night.

Farm Life

The past few days the kids and I have been going out in the evenings with Nathan to chore. The weather has been so nice that I can't pass up the opportunity. I'm sure there is more cold weather on the way and I have spring fever in a bad way as do the kids (well mostly William). It has been our ritual to go do chores with Nathan in the summers so it's nice to start again. I used to help Nathan with the watering but with a baby now I'm not much help. Nathan will usually take either Ava or William on the tractor with him if he needs to get hay up top. They sit in the buddy seat next to him and Sassy, our dog, sits on the floor. The other day Nathan had William with him and they went to smooth out the road where there were deep tire tracks from the mud. Nathan said it was a really bumpy ride. I guess it must have been nap time for William because he leaned over and went to sleep. Nathan said he was flopping all over bumping his head because of the rough road. He's a pretty deep sleeper once he goes to sleep.

Today our pigs got out. This is a daily occurence now. So William got in the pen with Nathan and was trying to heard them back in. It was cute because he wasn't afraid of them in the least. That worries me though because he's not afraid of much. He got in two different horse corrals while we were feeding. He's quite the handful and so independent. We never have a dull moment with him around.

Trip Up North

The girls and I made a trip up north this past weekend. I had to go to the Social Security office to change my birthday on my card. We haven't been able to file our taxes because they have my birthday wrong. I took a number when I got there and sat with Ava and Melissa for an hour waiting. Thankfully my girls were good. I can't begin to imagine what it would have been like with William there. He got to stay home and hang out with Dad. I also took Melissa to get her 4 month immunizations. We are a little behind:)She did so good. She had to have 4 shots and she didn't even start to cry until the third shot and stopped crying when I picked her up. I think all the fat rolls on her legs cushioned the shots. She's a trooper. She hasn't even been sick or cranky from the shots. That is a blessing.

We were able to stay the night at the Ricco's. That was a lot of fun. We ordered chinese food and watched American Idol. They are great hosts and we love to visit them. My kids also love James and Michael. Ava will see Michael's picture on our fridge and say "gichael". She loves him. They love Aunt Audra and Uncle Ricco too:)

While we were up north Berkley and Janet came to visit. I feel bad I missed them but didn't know they were coming until I was leaving. I think they decided to come up at the last minute. I'm sure they will be back soon. We love when they come visit. We love when anyone in either family comes to visit. In fact I hear that some more of the Marshall family might be coming this week. Yipee! I guess I had better get my house clean. It is a disaster...just ask Janet!

Visit to Alamo

Well the kids and I just got back from Alamo. We went with the Ricco's to visit my parents. They are just moving into a new place and have been spending time renovating it. I wish I would have taken pictures. They have done a lot of painting and are putting wood floors in some of the rooms. It's a nice big home and perfect for our large Bunker family.

The kids had so much fun playing with their cousins. William especially loved playing outside since he hasn't been able to do that much here because of the cold. It's a nice place for him to play because it's not by any roads or pretty much anything for that matter. All in all it was fun to visit with all of the family. The only ones missing were the Hannigs and Dallas. I was able to visit with the newly engaged Lance and Natalie. She showed off her ring. It is beautiful and I am so happy for the two of them.

It's nice to be home now but I miss the warmer weather. It's actually snowing right now which means the roads will get muddy again. Yuck! I best be getting to bed. I have sharing time tomorrow and I need to catch up on some sleep!

The picture above is Melissa in Tony's shades at Rachel's basketball game over the weekend. Becky was a sweetheart and watched her while I went to St. George. Thanks Becky!