a little christmas jingle

Mary and Joseph

Isabella and Zander played Mary and Joseph in the Joy School program this year. They were perfect.

surgery is no fun

Some of you may be wondering how I have found so much time to blog today. That is because I am up at Primary Children's Medical Center with Hayley. She is having surgery today. She has reflux from her bladder to her kidneys and the doctors thought it was high time they repair it. They tried two separate times to repair with a more non-evasive procedure called deflux. This procedure worked on the left side, the right side is a little more stubborn. So today she had what is called a "urethral re-implant for vesicureteral reflux". She is in recovery right now. She is doing well. The doctor says the surgery went really good. I hope that it works this time. It has been a long road for Hayley in dealing with this. She is really glad to have the surgery behind her. I am glad they gave us some Lortab.

winter wonderland

We had the most amazing snow storm the other day. It was also the perfect day to get out and play. It was still snowing so it wasn't too cold. Even Gabe got out for a while. The kids spend a long time making snow angels and building towers. Gabe had fun but had a more difficult time staying upright. He also likes the snow best when it wasn't touching his skin. The kids finished off the perfect day in the snow with the perfect cup of hot cocoa.

Party like it's your birthday!

I have gotten a little behind with my blogging as I often do. I would let it go but since this is my journal I am going ahead with the back logging.

Hayley had a great birthday. In fact if you ask her, it was "totally awesome". I took all the kids to the Discovery Gateway. My Mother-in-law met me there, bless her. All of the kids had a great time. They even had activities Gabe could enjoy. I am still kicking myself over forgetting my camera. Their favorite thing was a workshop we attended. In it we learned the difference between physical and chemical reactions. We even got to see a few. Hayley could have taught the workshop. She knew every answer to every question. She really is quite brilliant. Even though it was crazy to have five kids at a museum, it was nice not to hear the words "I'm bored".

For dinner we went with Scott's side of the family to Tempannyaki. Hayley does not usually like restaurants that do not serve cheese sandwich but this is the one exception. Despite her picky nature she loves salmon. Go figure. All the kids loved to see their food cooked in front of them. We had an awesome chef. They've been asking to go back ever since.
Here is a video of some of the crazy fun at Tempannyaki.



We celebrated Hayley's birthday again on Sunday with my side of the family. This time I made the salmon. Actually I take that back. I bought the salmon but I put my brother Adam in charge of cooking it. He poured fresh squeezed orange juice over it, salted it and broiled it. It was very very good. I made the cake. It was not so good. For some reason I put olive oil in the recipe instead of vegetable oil. Not good. The kids ate it. So bottom line it was a healthier cake but not a tasty cake. Which was actually even healthier because it was too gross to eat. So for all those watching what they eat it was a good thing.

All in all Hayley had two "awesome" birthday parties. Thank you to everyone that celebrated with us.

little brothers

Bella loves to play on my computer. Gabe loves to help Bella play her games. If she won't let him play with the computer he's going to play with the next best thing, her hair. He especially loves it when he gets a reaction from her. He is on his way to being a classic little brother.

Your results:
You are Superman

Superman 80% Wonder Woman 70% The Flash 70% Supergirl 60% Robin 55% Green Lantern 50% Iron Man 45% Spider-Man 40% Hulk 40% Catwoman 15% Batman 0%

You are mild-mannered, good, strong and you love to help others.

Click here to take the Superhero Personality Quiz

happy birthday hayley

Hayley is turning 11 years old today. My first baby is 11. I am so grateful to have spent the last 11 years with such an amazing child. She is smart, funny, loving, and extremely good at drawing. She loves to spend her time reading and coming up with amazing drawings. I love her and am so blessed to have her in my life.

christmas kick-off is awesome!

Every year my mother-in-law holds one of my favorite family traditions, Christmas kick-off. The celebration begins with a very delicious dinner. She then gives us presents that help us get ready for Christmas. This year we got a very cool Christmas house advent calender. My kids also got matching P.J.'s. We really are quite spoiled. One of my favorite gifts was a book called The Last Straw. She then gave my kids a manger to put straw in whenever they do an act of kindness. I am so grateful for my in-laws. I am also grateful for family traditions. I think one of the most important things we can do for our children is to build memories.



















Can you say "deer in the headlights"?

Happy 1st day of December

It is snowing like crazy here. What a perfect way to welcome in the month.