Sorry it's been a while!

    I can't believe I haven't blogged since September!  October was a fun month and full of activities.  The beginning of the month was the best because my in-laws and best friend Carlene and her son Hayden came to visit.  Ethan was getting baptized and it was also Balloon Fiesta weekend.  What an amazing friend I have to fly all the way from D.C. to see us!  We became friends in Ohio but really took that time for granted and ended up becoming even closer after moving away from each other.  It's hard to find a friend that accepts you for who you are, loves you without judgement, and can be blunt and honest with you always.  I love you Carlene!  It was a total surprise to Ethan that Hayden would be coming and they had a blast together.  They have been friends since they were 4 and have always acted like brothers.  It was as if they had never been apart and it had been 2 years since they'd seen each other. 
    After they all left we had a couple of weeks of normal :) I had so many plans for Halloween week which included making tons of cake pops for my friends and the kids' teachers.  I love Halloween so much!  The Wednesday before Halloween I woke up feeling some sharp pains in my lower abdomen.  I thought it was just gas.  It wouldn't let up though.  I took Clara to dance and she performed a Halloween dance with her class and I was miserable.  Right after we all went up to the school for Clara's parent-teacher conference and as we were walking in I told Ben that I had chills and felt horrible.  We made it through the conference and I was in pain the rest of the evening.  I was in total denial that anything was wrong because I didn't want to ruin or miss Halloween.  The next morning I woke up with the pain more localized to my lower right abdomen and decided I better go to the ER.  I took Meredith to my friend Melanie's and luckily there was no one in the ER so I got right in.  After lots of waiting (imagine that!) and a cat scan they confirmed that I had appendicitis.  I was so upset and was bawling!  My nurse was extremely sweet and stayed with me and held my hand while I cried.  Of all the weeks for this to happen!  This was at about 4:00 and Ben was already home and picking kids up from school.  My friend Melanie happily took the kids for the night and we were so grateful.  Thank you!  I had to be transferred to downtown for my surgery.  After being transferred by ambulance when I had Meredith I certainly didn't think I'd be doing that again so soon!  My surgery went well and I was so grateful to have Ben and my lovely friend Linda there with me.  I was really scared!  My recovery was awful because I was so sick from the anesthesia.  I got to go home the next evening and by then my awesome mother-in-law had already arrived.  She started packing as soon as she found out and drove the 12 hours to get here AND she was recovering from cataract surgery.  Wow!  She stayed a week and didn't let me lift a finger and I'm so grateful to her.  I don't know what I would do without her.  The recovery really took about 2 1/2 weeks to feel normal again.  I feel like I missed so much but that's life. 
    This last week I took the kids with me to Phoenix for the So You Think You Can Dance concert.  I had bought tickets for Ethan and I to go months ago and we were so excited.  Ben's sweet cousin, Kalene, let us spend the night and she watched the girls for me.  It was a blast and such a special memory to have with Ethan.  He said it was the best night of his life!  The 8-9 hour drive there and back was pretty awful though because Clara and Ethan (he got it on the trip back) had a stomach bug and let's just say they weren't throwing up.  It was awful and really scared me into not taking the trip to Texas during Christmas break.  As much as I want to go, it would be so so hard to do that without Ben. 
    This week is Thanksgiving and I am a little bummed that we don't have anyone to spend it with.  Our friends are all leaving or having family come so it's just us.  I want a houseful to feed!  We are actually going to do something out of the ordinary and go out to eat.  I don't want to cook all that food when our kids won't eat hardly any of it.  There is a casino here that has a huge Thanksgiving buffet that we'll probably go to.  We figure why not since this will be our last year to celebrate without family.  We are so excited and ready to move to Utah! 
    Here are a few random pics of the kids: