'Tis the (Flu) Season

*Disclaimer - this post is not for the weak of stomach*

So yesterday morning I got my wisdom teeth taken out. I went to the drug store right after to get my oh-so-essential Tylenols 3's. My mouth was still frozen and swollen and I couldn't even talk. My tongue and bottom lip felt like they weighed 10 pounds each, so you can imagine how ridiculous I sounded. I was hoping I could quickly go in, get the prescription filled, and head home without anyone noticing my temporary speech impediment. In the parking lot, a lady stopped me to ask for directions, the pharmacist needed my address and personal information, and the wait was so long that it was necessary for me to ask someone where the washrooms were. So much for that.

I was feeling better by the afternoon, and I offered to watch these three boys for our friends, Stan and Karma Black. They are from Lethbridge, but are staying up here in Edmonton while their brand new baby has heart surgery. They wanted to be with him when he got out of surgery, as well as go out to dinner for their 10th wedding anniversary. Their boys were great and we had fun playing hockey and play station with them.

Here's where it starts to get interesting. The next sequence of events will take longer to explain than the amount of time it actually took for them to happen.

At about 7:50 pm, Hayley woke up screaming. I went up to check on her and found she had thrown up everywhere. We got her out, cleaned up, changed her bedding, and brought her downstairs to sit with us in the living room.

About 2 minutes later, Carter came upstairs and told us he was feeling sick all of a sudden.

Great.

Just then, Karma and Stan came to pick up their kids. I took them downstairs to get their kids and I all of a sudden started feeling quite sick myself. I had to interrupt our conversation, run upstairs and barely made it in time to throw up in the toilet.

Then, I heard Jared calling for me. I came out of the bathroom to see Carter running down the hall towards me, throwing up as he ran. It got everywhere: the carpet, the linoleum, the walls. He started to puke again and I picked him up and ran him into the bathroom, so of course he threw up all over me and the floor. I was stepping in it and slipping, etc. It was so gross.

At this point, Jared couldn't even help because Hayley was ALSO simultaneously throwing up while sitting on his lap.

The Blacks came up the stairs and had to walk around the piles of puke and quickly left as we were all pretty much covered in puke.

Carter, Hayley and I took kept throwing up (violently) every 10 minutes or so for about 2 1/2 more hours. Poor Jared was running around holding puke buckets for us, changing clothes, doing loads of laundry, etc while we all lay in agony on the living room floor.

The three of us eventually all fell asleep on the floor (with buckets beside). Carter and I both woke up at 11:30, simultaneously puked and then fell back asleep.

The whole time this was happening, Jared and I couldn't get over how suddenly this all came on. Carter, Hayley and I all within MINUTES of each other when we had previously been feeling fine. It came on SO FAST, was SO VIOLENT, and not to mention was completely debilitating.

It was such a gong show. Jared said it was like a sketch from Saturday Night Live, except not as funny when you're living it. I reminded me of an episode of Family Guy where they drank Ipecac. So gross. You can watch it here.

The worst part about this whole fiasco is that I just got my wisdom teeth taken out, remember? If you think throwing up sucks normally, try throwing up when you've just had oral surgery. It was so painful. I think I popped a few (if not all) of my stitches whilst puking. After awhile only blood was coming out.

It was still just as brutal during the night, but we are feeling a bit better today. Still not the greatest, though. It was seriously so ridiculous, we just had to laugh.

All I can say is, thank goodness for Jared and his Flu shot.

Yet another Mendenhall wedding

This past weekend, we traveled down to Southern Alberta for my cousin's wedding. Michael and Amie make such a cute couple and it was really fun to see my whole family there.


The best part (for me anyways) was when Hayley and my cousin's girls, Halle and Alivia, all showed up wearing the same little brown dresses. How adorable is this picture? But I'm sure Erin will have better pictures since my camera always seem to die at the worst times.


Halle's face is classic and I love how it looks like Liv is resting her hand on Hayley's knee. I think she was really keeping Hayley from scooting herself right off the stage they were sitting on. We're working on her depth perception...

We stayed with our friends, the Jarmans, and spent the rest of the weekend catching up and relaxing with them. Then on Monday morning, my friend Lily hosted a play group for me. It was just like "the good 'ol days"- hehe. All my old friends were there with their kids and it made us miss Lethbridge. Again.

Rough Day?

The Hoarding Continues...

Remember Carter's hoarding disorder?

My friend Kirsti took this picture of him. Yet another example of how he hoards and organizes.

And here's one of the girls, just because they are so dang cute!


I love this one of Hayley! Thanks Kirsti!

One year older, but not a heck of alot wiser

So yesterday was my 24th birthday. Jared got home late Friday night from Houston, just in time for it. We were supposed to head to Calgary for my nephew's blessing Saturday morning, but our kids are both sick and we had a rough night previously. So we stayed around here and had a pretty low key day. Let the kids sleep in, went to a couple stores, and then we had supper at Swiss Chalet with Brad, Kirsti, and Skye. The best part was that Jared bought me my present while he was in Houston and surprised me with it the morning of my birthday.


He got me an iPod nano (the silver one). I love it. I spent most of the evening downloading songs onto it. It was such a nice surprise!

Leaving on a jet plane

We just got back from dropping Jared off at the airport. He is going to Houston for work for the week. I miss him already. I'm hoping I won't go too crazy, having the kids day and night with no one to spell me off. We have alot of stuff going on this week to keep us busy, though. I don't know how it all worked out this way, but we have a different appointment almost every day. Immunizations, pediatrician, Young Womens stuff, visiting teaching, Super Saturday (on a Thursday - go figure), etc. My Dad is away on business as well. So my Mom, little sister Carly, and I are having a girls slumber party. It will be alot of fun, but I wish my other sister Lisa was here to make it complete :( But let's face it - Mom and I will probably be be the only ones "slumbering" and Carly will have to "party" by herself. Nevertheless I am looking forward to a fun and busy week! But I still miss my hubby...

These kids...

...crack me up.

Crafty

When the weather gets colder, we have to find things to do inside to keep us busy. Carter loves to make crafts with me. Takes after his mom, I guess. This week, he had an idea for a robot.


It turned out pretty cute. Almost rivaling (my personal favorite) last year's school bus...

Almost.

One Elephant Went Out To Play

Today we went to the Zoo. I was kind of hesitant to go because it was pretty chilly today. Also because the Edmonton Zoo isn't even that great in it's peak season, let alone right now. But we went anyways, and we were so glad we did. Wanna know why?

We got to stand a couple feet away from an elephant. No fences. Nothing between us and him. It was so crazy.

Because there was barely anyone there today, his trainers took him out for a walk around the zoo. They marched him right towards us (we moved off to the side of the pathway) and they kept going right past us. We literally could have reached out and touched him. Jared was so mad he didn't. I think we were just in such complete shock, seeing an animal that big so close to us.

I don't think I realized how neat it was until afterwards. At the time, the only thing that was running through my mind was the "When Animals Attack" special we just barely watched on National Geographic. I am such a scaredy cat.

Anyways, we got to stand next to it a few minutes later for some pictures. Pretty neat. They are on my camera phone though, so I need to figure out how to upload them on here. Stay tuned...