Snake around the neck? Yep!

My daughter loves her pet snake.  

Normally I don't have a problem with

him since he stays in his cage in her room

24/7.  Yesterday she took it too far! 

 Who in their right mind wraps

a snake around their neck?

Would you ever?  I

know I wouldn't!

Especially since his

name is Venom!

Cruel...but wonderful world!

 I may sing the praises of Southern California...

since it is my idea of paradise.  One thing it

doesn't have is this.  Beautiful snow!

 There is nothing better than waking up

and looking out the window to find

the world covered in a blanket of

brilliant white snow.  Heavenly!

 My only question to you is,

"Why does it always have to snow

on a Sunday?"  My kids are forced

to get dressed in their Sunday best (when

they would much prefer snow clothes) and

go sit for hours while the sun melts all

of the snow.  Cruel world!  :0)

Luckily, when we returned home from Stake

Conference there was still snow all over

Jason's car.  A wonderful snowball fight

ensued.  So much so that I was drenched

all the way through my clothes.  I love

the snow...but I still prefer the beach!

Ty looks pretty good for someone that

was in the hospital 28 hours before. :0)

Where were you at 3am?

Ty and I spent a couple hours in the ER.

You know it's early when you get to watch

the sun rise on the drive home.

Ty awoke at 2:30 with severe jaw pain

and his face was really swollen.  I haven't

liked his reactions to the medicine and Jason

and I both feared that he was having another

allergic reaction (this is the boy that is

allergic to Benadryl...weird, right). 

We talked to the triage nurse at our

pediatricians office and she said to get him to

the hospital.  Of course by the time we arrived

his symptoms were subsiding and his blood

oxygen level read 98% which is awesome!

The ER doctor believes that the 4 week long

cough & vomit we experienced last time was

bronchitis.  He recommended only using the

inhaler if Ty can't stop his coughing fits.

Again, mothers intuition tells me that the

asthma wasn't the right diagnoses (but I am

not a doctor).  This doctor did find an ear

infection that may have been the main cause

for the jaw pain.  He couldn't emphasis enough

the importance of the trip to a Pulmonary

Specialist either.  Too bad they can't get us

in until April!  We're on a cancellation list, too.

Next stop is our Pediatrician on Monday.

Let's get this boy's blood oxygen figured out!

92%

 I know I've mentioned Ty's gag reflex before.

Well, I guess it's not just a gag reflex.  :0(

I took Ty to the Dr. on Tuesday to have

her examine him.  Every time he gets a cough,

he vomits.  Once at night and once in the

morning....every day for 4 weeks last time.

On our drive home from Vegas, Ty started

coughing and threw up. 

'Enough is enough', I said! 

Well, the doctor checked his blood oxygen levels

and it revealed that he is extremely low.  She

made an educated guess that he has what is called

"Cough Variant Asthma".  With that she started

him on a breathing treatment

and things improved.

 We now have an inhaler (remember this still

isn't an exact diagnoses).  We went back for a

follow up appointment yesterday and he tested

at 92%!!! In layman's terms...people under 92%

require oxygen.  Legally the Dr. couldn't let

him leave the office until he hit 95%.  After 15

minutes of treatment he finally reached 95%.

We left there and headed to get chest x-rays.

They came back clear, which rules out

pneumonia.  Our next stop is a Pediatric

Pulmonary Specialist in Phoenix. 

We will get this figured out! 

The reason I am giggling in the background

of these pictures is the fact that these drugs

make Ty sooooo hyper!  He is bouncing

off the walls.  His hands shake like an old

man and his checks are constantly flushed.

It's pretty funny watching him spin his way

to the bathroom.  What happened to my

well behaved son?  :0)  At least he's

not sickly.  That's one healthy boy...

other than this.  Love ya Ty!

Flash Back!

This beauty is truly a flashback!  See me,

standing front and center?  Some things

never change.  I must have been about 5...

which means this is over 30 years old!

It's a timeless beauty.

OK, maybe not so timeless!  :0)

Vagabond Me!

Did you notice a change?

I now own my own domain name! 

Woo Hoo! No more of thestewartstuff. 

Hello VagabondMe.

Why Vagabond?  It is my FAVORITE word

in the entire universe.  Why?  Not sure!  :0)

It just sounds really cool.

Jason and I have moved a lot in our

16 yrs. of marriage.  From CA, to UT,

to NV, to ID, to AZ.  Either a vagabond

or a nomad.  Take your pick!  :0)

 I will strive to post at least once a day. 

Now that I have some ads running on

my blog, I hope to offer some giveways

soon.  Let's have fun together. 

Wish me luck!

Digging up the past in Vegas!

While in Las Vegas, the family history

ball started rolling! Back in 1957 Jason's

Grandad appeared in Life Magazine. My

in-laws have a gorgeous picture of him (Dell)

with one of his many horses that hangs on their

office wall. It was taken by the photographers

from Life Magazine. After a google search, we

found the actual magazine he appeared in. Gary

and Jason both ordered copies of the original

magazine and ours is on its way. I can't wait!

I'll share the magazine with you when it arrives. Dell had one of the original horse ranches

in Las Vegas. Jason and I were lucky enough

to live in his last home when Summer was born.

I never got to meet Dell, but I feel a connection

to him through those 2 years we lived there.

He had some incredible race horses and this photo

(above) shows him on the left with his father

(Jason's Great-Grandad) on the right. The horse

in the photo was their biggest winner. His name

was John Herald. He was Grandad's pride & joy!

One more photo I have to share is this one!

Hollywood actor John Payne (most famous for

his role as attorney Fred Gailey in

Miracle on 34th Street in 1947) wanted

a cowboy photo taken and they had him pose

with some real life cowboys (Dell in the middle

and his brother Cornell on the left). I love this

photo of Dell! He was one very handsome man.

I can't wait for our magazine to arrive. I'll

share it with you, I promise!

A 'quick' trip to the Bellagio

Have you ever driven the Strip in Las Vegas?

If so, you will probably laugh when you hear

me say that we planned a 'quick trip' to watch

the Bellagio Water Show last night. At 9:58 we

were stuck in traffic in front of the Bellagio. I had

these 4 cuties in my car with Jason driving. I

made the call to quickly unbuckle and we jumped

out (quite illegally), just in time to watch the

show. In total, we had 4 cars there...and only

these boys got to watch it. We ended up staying

to watch the 10:30 show also. Everyone except

Annette got to experience it. Now, why didn't

Annette get to, you may ask. There was a major accident somewhere near

there and it LOCKED down the traffic in

the parking garage. LITERALLY! We were

stuck in the parking garage for 2 hours!

Luckily, I had remembered the "World's

Largest Chocolate Fountain" that is there

at the Bellagio. Heather, Tate, Summer, &

I jumped at the opportunity to go back in the

hotel to get ourselves some Crepes. Yep,

not quite on the diet plan, but totally

worth it. Everybody else sat in the cars

watching movies and moving NOWHERE

while we feasted on deliciousness.

Selfish? Maybe. Smart? You bet! Even though we didn't get home until

2 am our time, I had a blast! I always

enjoy being out on the town...just

not being locked in a parking garage. :0)

Uncle Chris took this photo of us in front
of the Paris Hotel. Maybe we can use it
to fool the kids into thinking they were
with us this summer when we went to
France. Doesn't hurt to try, right!?! :0P
Summer and Tate were the ultimate tourists
taking photos of everything. I loved this one
Summer took of the glass flowers that the
Bellagio lobby is famous for. Just
thought I would share it. You're welcome.

Las Vegas, Baby!

We are in Las Vegas!

The Stewart Clan is together again (minus Brady). Bridget is here!!! All of our kids are growing
up too fast. We all fight over Bridget's attention.
Summer had a fun time doing a photo shoot of
her with her new camera. Isn't this adorable!!! Our 3 teenager girls are trouble makers.
They spend their time listening to
iPods, playing on Kaylee's iPad, and
just gabbing about boys. They really
are good girls...not a troublemaker
to be found. I promise!
These 4 are the real troublemakers.
Grandma & Grandad's house may
never be the same.

Science Fair Success

Maybe Sedona has been rubbing off on us,

but Sydney has been growing crystals.

No, not Vortex, Psychic, or Weirdo

Crystals. Just Borax Crystals.

This was our first go at a Science Fair project.

Summer never had to do one. We were

excited, yet nervous. It's cute, right!?!She had some variables: Boiling water, warm water,

& luke warm water. The boiling water and Borax

won. It was a pretty cool experiment.

Each color card represented the water temperature.

Blue: Boiling

Yellow: Warm

Green: Luke Warm

Can you see the difference?

First Place, Baby!

That's my girl!!!

The Jumping Pose

I'm sure this goes without saying, but my

kids love to do the 'jumping pose' in pictures.

Summer tends to tease everyone else while

she claims to have the best 'pose'. See our

blog header. Hers is pretty cool. Well, as siblings

do, my girls constantly fight...over nothing.

One of their recent fights was over Syd's

lack of 'bent knee jumps'. REALLY? Must we

fight about our jumping styles??? I give up.

Summer got a camera for Christmas and I was

just going through some of the pictures she had

taken. This picture was taken in 'my room' at

my parents and apparently she was giving Syd

jumping lessons. That's a step in the right direction,

isn't it? Next thing I know they will be holding

hands and singing 'Kum ba yah'.

A mother can dream, right?

Valentine's

Here is a classy, gorgeous, cell phone

picture of Jason and I waiting for a table

at our small town's version of a fancy

steak house. 55 minute wait....which

meant we were forced to talk to each other!

Crazy concept, I know. At dinner, Jason pointed

out that it was 17 years and 5 days ago that we

met. Look at how far we have come. We

are pretty proud of our 3 greatest accomplishments.

Bet you can't guess what I am referring to. :0)

Happy Valentine's Day!!!

More face painting

My very SCARY skeleton!
Jack Sparrow in a very female version.

Pirates of the...Cupcake Bingo???

Leah, Kaylee, and Summer

Last night was Cupcake Bingo at Ty and Sydney's

school. Summer and Leah ditched their school's

Valentine's Dance (which they were happy to miss)

to come play along. Sydney won the 4 corners game

and Leah won the Blackout game. It was a fun

evening. A lady was there painting faces for $1

and the cool kids went for mustaches

and eyeballs (Syd did it, too).

Thanks to my friend Jason Shultz for taking this

picture on his cell phone. I'll post pics of Ty & Syd later.

Summer at Out of Africa

Summer's school instituted what they call a

'Service Learning Project'. Each student has to

do 4 hours of community service to better our

local situation. When Summer told me about it,

I immediately thought of Out of Africa...our

Wildlife Park that is 1/2 hr. away.

When I called to see if they had any service

she could provide, we lucked out. The lady that

answered was wonderful. Not only did they

let Summer arrange a time to come and

'work', but they spoiled her. She is a true animal

lover....she has a snake as a pet (need I say more).

This was a once in a lifetime opportunity and

she thrived in it. Animal career in the future?

I believe so!

Her favorite part was when she got

to feed the white tiger. They had a bucket full

of raw meat for her and she thought it was pretty cool.

She got to help out with the Creature Feature Show

which had an anaconda, an iguana, and a blue

tongued skink. She spent most of her time in

the Pet & Feed scooping poop. While on her

lunch break, they missed the birth of 2 goats.

She quickly raced over there and got some

cute pictures of them...she stayed behind the

fence so she wouldn't freak the mom out.

Thanks to Out of Africa for an incredible

experience for Summer. Lucky girl!!!

Utah...a quick trip.

We left Friday after school and arrived

at my sister Amy's house in Utah at bed time.

We awoke to a crazy, eventful, and fun day.

*Ellie's Baptism

*Summer went snowboarding

*The gang in the picture above went

Mini-Croquet-ing...if that's a word!?!

*Delicious food & fun company

We left the next morning. Quick? Yes!

I'm glad we were able to make it. We were

so proud of Ellie. I have the best family.

I wish we lived closer to one another.

My parents, Becky, Brad, and Libby

drove even further and spent even

less time there. I'm glad we were all

safe & together. We missed Jason, though!

A fun winters day.

We had a fun surprise yesterday. Thomas (a.k.a. Elder
Wolcott) came to visit from Texas. It was great seeing
him and catching up on lost time. The kids adore him
and they had fun holding Summer's snake and
playing Just Dance 2. We're glad he came!

The kids had 1/2 days, so Leah joined us for the day,
too. Summer is trying to convince Leah that
the Wii is better than the Connect that Leah
got for Christmas. I think they enjoy going
to each others houses to try them out.

All in all, we had a really fun day. Now we are
off to Utah to see Ellie get baptized. It was a
last second decision, and we are excited.
Hopefully the weather cooperates.

Last Diet Post...I promise!!!

Seriously! I know how annoying it can be

listening to someone else talk about their

'diet'. I apologize in advance. :0) I just

have 2 secrets to share with you. I have

been losing a pound a day, and these are

2 of the main reasons why:

Lean Cuisine's Chicken with Almonds is to

die for! Honestly, I think it's better than

eating at a gourmet restaurant. It's

just that good! Trust me on this one!!!

Remember my 'boring water' complaint.

Well, I tried Crystal Light like my mom

recommended, but I think it has a diet taste

and is too sweet. I found the perfect compromise!

Gatorade is just right & only 50 calories a glass.

I only allow myself to have it at lunch with

my Lean Cuisine. Yummy...& low in calories.

You're welcome! :0)