Hershey

I have always wanted to visit Hershey, PA. Why? In Elementary School I saw a picture of a street light in the shape of a hershey kiss. I grew up in Oregon and had never gone further east than Yellowstone Park in Wyoming, so I knew I would never ever go to Pennsylvania.

Fast forward twenty years...Mark's parents are serving a mission in DC. They live two hours south of Hershey. So when we went to visit them for the Christmas holiday I just had to travel to Hershey. AND they were kind enough to indulge me in my silly childhood fantasy.

The entrance to Hershey's Chocolate World.

There is a ride you can go on for free that explains how the chocolate is made. It's way fun and you get a treat at the end!

A gingerbread house made the hershey way. Can you spot the chocolate bars, kit kats, peanut butter cups, bliss, kisses, and hershey-etts?

Kendra became a hershey factory worker.


She took a gear and loaded it with hershey kisses.


Then the kids do a dance and put it on the belt to the packaging center. Then they come out on another belt where you can purchase them for $13.95 or dump them in a bin...Mark made us dump it in the bin. :(

It was a glorious trip well worth the two hour drive. I would like to go back when it's warm and we can go to Hershey Park (amusement park) and Echo Caverns.

Christmas Letter

A Look Back at 2009

JANUARY
Kendra began pre-school
Mark replaced our kitchen faucet
Mark went skit and trap shooting for the first time

FEBRUARY
Celebrated 7 years of marriage
Grandma and Grandpa Winkel came to visit
With the help of Ken, Mark opened up the cubby space in our garage

MARCH
In the past month Kristi gained 10 pounds in her pregnancy (a little high!)
Mark bought a shotgun

APRIL
Kendra enrolled at the Little Gym for gymnastics
Aunt Shoni came to visit
Kendra began to attend story time at the local library

MAY
Mark turned 30!!
Kendra gave up the pacifier

JUNE
Kendra turned 3
Megan was born

JULY
For the first time EVER Kendra didn’t cry at her well-child check-up
Kristi is put on dairy-free diet

AUGUST
Kristi is now on a dairy-free, gluten-free, wheat-free pretty much everything free diet

SEPTEMBER
Grandma and Grandpa Winkel and Aunt Shoni came to visit
Megan’s blessing
Megan’s first and only shots
Kristi had H1N1

OCTOBER
Disneyland trip
Kendra wore a Tinkerbell costume and Megan a bunny for Halloween
Kendra and Megan got H1N1
Kristi slowly adding things back into her diet

NOVEMBER
Kristi turned 30!
Kristi was the only healthy one for Thanksgiving
Kristi can eat again!!

DECEMBER
After 3 months we finally replaced our microwave!


Reflecting on the year, we feel very blessed for the situation in which we find ourselves. I think it’s fair to say that our family has not only grown larger this year, but we’ve grown closer together. We feel gratitude when thinking back to the joy and peace that has accompanied 2009. One source of joy came in recognizing the terrific family, extended family, and friends that we’ve been privileged to have. The courses of our lives have been greatly shaped by loving, thoughtful, and exemplar friends and family. We are truely grateful for you. Many influences have helped us both to find the source of our deepest joy, which comes from the gospel of Jesus Christ. At the season where we relish the spirit of Christmas, we express our gratitude to our Lord, whose spirit it is that lifts our hopes, lightens our burden, softens our hearts and strengthens our loving ties. We wish you all a very merry Christmas.

Love, Mark, Kristi, Kendra, and Megan Vickers

Love My Girls

This past week the girls and I went to Wal-mart. While we were there Kendra must have felt festive and broke out in song. She sang, "Santa Claus is coming to town" in her loud voice. It made me smile and I thought, "this is why I love Kendra." She is loud, fun, boisterous, obedient, loving, silly, difficult temperament - vibrant personality Kendra.

Kendra's Gingerbread Bears even have personality!

Yesterday we went to Straight Chiropractic to see Santa. Megan sat on his lap without crying, curious as to who this new person was. I thought, "this is why I love Megan." She is easy-going, flexible, content, happy, peaceful, easy temperament - calm personality Megan.

This is why I love my girls. They are polar opposites but so cute in their own way.

I Am Glad For Many Things

Before I can talk about how we spent our Thanksgiving Day I need to first discuss the past week.

Last Thursday before Mark and I fell asleep I expressed my deep sleep deprivation status and my concern for being on the brink of a break down. Two months ago (when Megan had her shots) Meggers stopped sleeping. I am lucky if I can get a two hour stretch at night. I don't nap during the day because I have Kendra. The exhaustion is wearing me out. Little did I know it was about to get worse.

That night Megan woke up after sleeping for 30 minutes. 20 minutes later Kendra walked into our room, (she hasn't walked to our bedroom for over a year, usually she just cries for us). She wanted to sleep in our bed with us. Her whole body was on fire. I laid awake next to her expecting her to be sick. 45 minutes later when I no longer could keep my eyes open she threw up! Mark raced to the bathroom with her but wouldn't you know Kendra was too scared to puke in the toilet. So, I spent the first couple of minutes of my birthday cleaning vomit. Happy Birthday to me!!

Friday was hard as Kendra laid on the couch all day. She has NEVER done this. I had to force her to eat ice chips and sip any liquid possible. Although she did eat toast late that night her appetite hasn't been the same. Megan got sick somewhere between there and Monday but wasn't really sick until Monday night. She coughed many times so hard that she would throw up. As the cough progressed her little face turned red. Because she is so little I took her in to see her doctor. Oh, and Mark got sick on Tuesday. Don't know why I'm not sick yet. We think everyone has parinfluenza (croup) and let me tell you that it is worse than the swine flu. With the H1N1 we had two really bad days and then it tapered off. Croup seems to just linger. Kendra sounds like a little barking seal.

So that brings me to today. We were invited to spend time with friends today, but because everyone is sick (except me) I decided we needed to stay home and I'd make us a Thanksgiving meal.

Not much of a feast but all homemade!! And because I'm the only "well" one we have a ton of leftovers!! I was happy because my pumpkin pie tastes just like my mom's.

It is nice to have a day when we can remember all we are grateful for.

Laughter: The Best Medicine

Kendra can always make her sister laugh. It's the funnest thing for us to watch and we finally taped it for all to enjoy.

During our scripture reading tonight we asked Kendra, "Don't you want to live with Heavenly Father and Jesus again?" To which she replied, "No, I just want to go to Disneyland." We have failed as parents!!

Earlier today Kendra went to a friend's birthday party. She got to ride a horse!

For Halloween Megan was a bunny and Kendra was Tinkerbell. I didn't post a picture of Kendra in her costume because it's the same costume she wore at Disneyland. We only went trick-or-treating to a few of our neighbors. When Kendra learned we were at our last house she said, "We need to go to some more houses." I told her that this was the last one, and she replied, "but I need some more candy."

The Ocean

I wasn't going to travel all the way to California and NOT see the beach. We took off one afternoon to spend a couple of hours in Long Beach. It was perfect timing. It was warm, sunny, and beautiful. The fog rolled in just as we left.

Mark and his girls walking the beach.



This took some coaxing. Kendra is still hesitant when it comes to new situations. The first step was to take off her shoes in the sand. Then it was to get her to walk on the wet sand. To get her in the water we began with our backs toward the ocean and dug our feet into the wet sand. The tide came up a little and got her. She realized it wasn't scary but fun, so began to play in the water.

Building a sand castle.


Kendra made "sleeping beauty's castle." Notice the beautiful trash in her castle. I am disappointed that people don't take care of the beaches. There was quite a bit of trash on the beach and in the water.


Funny picture of Meggers.

The Rides

Here are some pictures of the rides that we went on.

This is It's a Small World. We were able to ride this one as a family which was fun. Mark and I thought it was interesting that at the end all the dolls of every nationality were dressed in white.

Kendra in the Dumbo ride - one of her favorites.

Kendra on the Carousel. She wanted to ride on this particular horse because it was "Snow White's horse."

Mark and Kendra on the Buzz Lightyear ride.

Can't remember what this one is called but Kendra referred to it as the rocket ship ride.

Okay, not a ride but a good movie. It was too loud for Megan so I missed it. :(

This is called the Golden Zypher or something.

King Tritan's Carousel.

Tea Cup ride. Kendra loved to make it spin. The good thing about this one is that the line was always short.

I took Kendra on a Pinocchio ride and it scared her half to death. After about 5 seconds she screamed, "I want off!" Unfortunately we had to finish the ride with my hands over her ears and her eyes closed.

Mickey's Trick or Treat Party

On Wednesday night we took the girls to California Adventure for Mickey's Trick or Treat Party. I loved it! They have characters all over, candy stations, parades, rides, etc. We were all very tired by the time it began, but I would love to go again when the girls are old enough to enjoy it more. As you enter they give each person a trick-or-treat bag (they even gave Megan one) to use at the candy stations. They give you handfuls of candy and other items like apple slices, baby carrots, craisins, car raisins, etc. By the end Kendra wanted me to hold her bag because it was too heavy!

This is Kendra in her Tinkerbell costume in our hotel.

Us as we are leaving our hotel. The maingate is just down the hotel and accross the street! We were lucky enough to be at the very end of the hotel!

The decorations were really fun.

Snow White's step mother.

They had places where you could wait in line to meet characters and then they had two different dance parties with characters around.

This is one dance party - Mr. Incredible and Frozone were there.

Kendra and Megan enjoying the fun!

Woody and a Toy Soldier.

Where Dreams Come True

We just got back from our family trip to Disneyland. Kendra was finally able to meet some of the princesses and fairies.

This is Kendra's face as we approached Pixie Hollow.

TinkerBell


Kendra actually talked to her!

Kendra loved Fawn. Fawn is one of the fairies in Tinkerbell's movie.

We saw the princesses first - although Kendra was completely excited, she was somewhat hesitant to meet them and I had to walk up there with her.

Snow White

Sleeping Beauty (my least favorite character that we met). You can tell Kendra wasn't that fond of her either.

Belle - Kenrdra's favorite. Belle did a great job with Kendra!

Kendra was so excited to meet Cinderella!

We took a ton of pictures so I'm still sorting through them. More to come...

Autism Spectrum Disorder

In the 1990s Autism had a rate of 1 in 1400 kids. When I taught school (2003-2006) 1 in every 150 kids had autism. Do you know what it is now? Three years later it is now 1 in 91! The CDC has said the rising rate in autism is because pediatricians, psychologists, etc are able to detect it earlier. So, that's it. Autism is on the rise because it is easier to diagnose.



Why then in 2002 did MERK take out mercury from vaccines after their own researchers in 1991 found that mercury caused neurological damage? And why isn't there any research on aluminum in vaccines? And why is it that chelation can help children with autism?



These are the questions that race through my mind as I debate what shots to give my daughter. Is the risk of pertussis (1 in 50,000) greater than autism (1 in 91)?



Kendra had what I call an autistic regression. I only worked with school aged children who had autism so I wasn't aware of the regression that can take place between 12 and 15 months. I don't know if Kendra truly had autism - I never had her tested and I refused to do so. I didn't want a child with autism. I was taught that autism was a life sentence - there is no cure. It was also the most difficult disorder for me to work with because of the severe behavior.



At 14 months Kendra stopped sleeping, cried all the time, became incredibly irritable, lost her language ability (according to our journal she stopped saying words she previously could say), and became exhausting to me. Her behavior was so outlandish I didn't know what to do. At her 18 month check up her pediatrician suggested she be tested for autism. She acted like a frantic caged monkey. I had already decided that she had sensory processing disorder and decided to go that route first. Each day became a sensory experience for her. Although it was a nightmare, I challenged her constantly - I had to pull her out. Each day we went to new places with new people and new experiences, she hated this, but it had to be done. I did behavior modification with her which broke my heart. It's so much easier to do on someone who isn't your own kid! Four months later her improvement was remarkable. She finally had her evaluation with an occupational therapist - I didn't think she'd qualify but she did. Her therapist was amazing and I watched and replicated everything she did. Four months after therapy began she was a different kid. Everyone could see it.

I found this on a website - I didn't know that sensory integration was one of the basic therapies that could help reverse autism.

The facts are:

√ Children showing remarkable improvements on the gluten and casein free diet.

√ Children show incrediable improvements with chelation (the process of removing heavy metals from the body.)

√ Children are greatly helped by sensory intergration.

√ Children are greatly helped by auditory intergation.

√ Children make good progress in leaving autism behind by doing intensive behavior modification.

Here is a video (it's 30 minutes, but very good) about children who are recovering from autism.

http://www.autismyesterday.com/trailer.html

THE MOST WONDERFUL SOUND

The most wonderful sound to me is listening to Kendra after she is put to bed. She sings, talks, plays with her stuffed animals, and has a great time. I love it. I love listening to her over the monitor. Why is this the most wonderful sound to me? Between 14 and 19 months roughly, Kendra completely wore me out. After being put to bed she would cry and vomit within 10 seconds of crying. It became so awful that Mark and I took turns laying on the floor in her room until she would fall asleep. Then we would sneak out. Looking back I'm not sure how we made it. Kendra is such a delight now - it's wonderful.

I'd Like To Bear My Testimonies

I shot this early on Sunday before Conference began. That is why Kendra is in her pjs and her hair isn't done. :)

The love/hate relationship

Kendra at 4 months

Megan at 3 months

Everyone tells us how similar our girls look. Well, they are sisters! These two pictures show just how much they do look alike.

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Megan handled her shots much better than I had anticipated. I knew for sure she would get sick because I infected her with 5 live rotavirus strains, (not to mention cow blood serum and monkey kidney cells). I was surprised that she didn't get a fever or severe irritability. She did wake up in the middle of the night for the first time in weeks and her cheeks got a little pink, but that was it.

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I have decided that Walmart and I have a love/hate relationship. I love Walmart. I enjoy shopping there for many items, especially baby items because of their great prices. Yet at the same time I hate Walmart. I never can park closer than 100 yards from the door. This is only difficult since one hand carries the carseat while the other hand is holding Kendra's. When I finally make it to the entrance my arm is dying and I can't wait to find a cart. Seems easy enought right? Well, because my little infant will take a ride in the cart I like to have one that has all wheels working properly. This is difficult to find. After the third or fourth cart I give in and decide that all carts at Walmart go bump...bump...bump throughout the store. Megan hates this and eventually protests as I hurry through the shopping. The last time I went to Walmart I needed diapers. I only buy Pampers Swaddlers and to my dismay thay were all out of size 2! They even checked the back for me. I grabbed the other items and walked discouragedly to the check out. I like to use the garden checkout because, even though it doesn't have a sign stating it, the garden checkout is a "20 item or less" checkout. It's just an unspoken rule. Apparently not everyone knows this. I pulled up behind two people in line. No problem. The person checking out handed the cashier the last box of Pampers Swaddlers size 2 diapers! And she obviously didn't care what brand to use because she bought the Parent's Choice diapers as well. Seriously? Couldn't I have that box? And then this person had a cart that reminded me of a clown car. You know that car that is tiny but can hold 20 plus clowns? They just keep coming and coming and you wonder where in the world they fit in there? Her cart didn't look full but she just kept pulling more and more items from there. After ten or so minutes the line at this checkout was so long that the cashier called for backup. When the next cashier came everyone beat me to the next line, so I watched, almost entertained by how much she could fit in that cart. Finally she was done - the bill was almost $300. She took her government card out to pay for it but it didn't work. The cashier tried again and again to help the customer but the card just wouldn't work. So she pulled out three 100 dollar bills! And you are on welfare why? By this time the other line was empty so I trotted over there to check out my ten items. Walmart and I have a love/hate relationship that will probably continue and never be solved.