Happy Birthday Dad

Happy birthday to one of the most humble,

generous,

spiritual,

wise,

and amazing people I know.

You have been my inspiration,

my confidant, my comforter, my example,

and my friend.

I love you so much.

And I'm grateful for every minute of your 72 years

that I have been able to spend with you.

Hermana Dinner

Some of the "Herms" from my mission got together at our Mission President's house for a Dominican feast last Friday.

I wasn't sure how well I would do with the food. To be honest, thinking of Dominican food kind of makes my stomach turn. Nearly 8 years later, I still cannot eat rice and beans together.

I was pleasantly surprised though. The food tasted really good to me (miracles!) most likely because of the talented ladies that made it and the great company.


Thank goodness el Presidente got the chicken foot. This one had longer claws than normal and totally freaked me out. (I woke up to chickens being slaughtered outside our bathroom window for 6 months. I will never forget the flapping sound as they hit the bucket...{shudder}.)

I wasn't the only one that enjoyed the food. Look at those clean plates!

I had a wonderful time eating and chatting with everyone. It has been way too long since I have seen most of them.

Pres. and Sis. J. were gracious and kind hosts as usual. I feel so privileged to have served with such an amazing bunch.

Thanks to Perry and Sis. J. for organizing it, especially on a night I could be there!

We've been busy...

We ran to the park.

While we were there, we were treated to a new 5 year old phenomenon - POUTING. Kenna is using this new tool at every opportunity.

I am not amused.

Lyssa played while Kenna sulked.

She finally cheered up long enough to chase a remote control airplane around with about 500 other neighborhood kids that were taking advantage of the weather.

Lyssa ran her little heart out. She really wanted to catch the plane.

We had sandwiches...big ones. Lyssa showed proper etiquette by raising that dainty pinky finger every time she took a bite.

Liam played with Mom while Dad tried to get the external flash on the camera up and running. (He finally found it after several years of being hidden in a box.)

We tried out a yummy new donut place. I fell in love with the green one. I think Key Lime is one of my new favorite flavors.

We raced paper airplanes. (Bad picture of me. Yuck. But you can see the shorter hair. I was having a hard time getting the remote picture taking timed just right. Also note the amount of sincere effort the girls put into throwing those planes.) We got a chance to try out our new tripod with this picture. Yay for more camera equipment!

And we got girly. Liam escaped sans curlers, but only because his hair isn't long enough for the girls to put one in it.

Cruise - The Backstory

In order to understand why this trip was such a crazy thing, I have to give a little backstory about how we even got there in the first place.

On Feb. 10th, my dad had an appointment with his oncologist. The doctor noticed that my dad’s PSA numbers were starting to rapidly jump again (from the mid 300’s to the high 700’s in a month) and let him know that they would need to start chemo again soon. He also told him that the chemo would be less effective this time, so they wouldn’t do as many treatments (3-4 instead of the 9 he had before). The only treatment available after that would be an experimental pill they are testing in Vegas that would require them to drive down there often for check-ups.

He suggested that if there was anywhere my dad wanted to go, or anything he wanted to see, he should probably go before his next appointment, because he would likely not be well enough again. His next appointment was scheduled for the 3rd of March.

So, on the way home from the appointment that day, my siblings sort of joked a little about going on a cruise - something my parents have wanted to do for quite a while - to try and lighten the mood a little. I guess at some point my sister Lori whipped out her handy iPhone and started looking around the internet for cruise deals.

I'll spare all the details on how they eventually ended up finding something, but it was sort of miraculous how it all worked out. They ended up with an itinerary that my dad had really wanted that was leaving the following Sunday.

My sister called that evening and told me about the trip. She said that they were trying to get all the siblings to go along, that it would be a great trip, etc. My heart sort of sank. I knew there was no way I could go. We wouldn't have anyone to watch the kids while Matt was at work, my passport had expired, I didn't know if I could get work off, an old friend was coming for a visit during the same week, we didn't have the money...yeah, you get the idea. I told her I wouldn't be able to go.

I mentioned it when I talked to Matt on the phone that night. But didn't really say too much because I had pretty much decided it was impossible. I didn't really think too much more about it until I got home from work on Wednesday and Matt called me. He doesn't normally call me from work unless it's something really important so when I answered I was a slightly worried. He just said, "Can you get next week off work?" and I sort of panicked inside, not sure why he would be asking. I told him him I probably could and when I asked why he said, "I've been working things out with your sister. You're going on the cruise. You need to call her right now and give her the credit card number."

I was floored. The only thing I could do was cry. I hadn't realized how much it meant to me to go until he said I was going with them. He had been working all day to get work off for the next week and to get things arranged with my sister. He said he thought I'd regret it if I didn't go and chances like this only come around once in a great while. I called my sister, gave her the information she needed, hung up the phone and then sat down on the kitchen floor and just cried. I was overwhelmed.

There were a million things running through my brain...mostly just the gratitude for my amazing husband and his willingness to sacrifice so much for me and for the amazing opportunity to spend the time with my parents and siblings.

That and I was panicking when I realized I only had three days to get everything put together.

St. Patrick would be proud...

Oh boy did we celebrate! I was feeling bad that the girls didn't get to go to school and partake of all the activities today...so we decided to liven things up a little at home.

We made green pancakes for dinner (I couldn't think of anything Irish and that was the best bet for food coloring).

To be followed by green cupcakes with green frosting and green sprinkles.

I'm sure we had waaaaaay too much food coloring.

But, it had the great side effect of making Kenna forget about being sick for a couple of hours. Which means, I think she's feeling better, she's just stringing it out in order to get more "green drink". ("green drink" = Sprite - since it comes in the green bottles they think it's green, even though we've pointed out it is not green once you pour it out.)

I really hope no one else comes down with this one. I can do colds, but Sunday night was a LONG one and I have no desire to do more throw up laundry. Yuck. Plus Kenna insisting that she has to carry a bowl around everywhere is embarrassing. It's awkward to explain that at the grocery store.

Also, did I mention that Liam is tall enough to get an open yogurt container off the kitchen table?


Awesome. I love cleaning up after these munchkins.

See, this is why I don't do well with journals...

So I guess I've proven that, once again, I cannot be trusted to write on a regular basis.

When I get busy, writing goes out the window.

Boo.

I suck.

It turns out that when you leave on a week long vacation with only three days notice,

things pile up while you're gone and the kids seem to want extra attention when you get home.

Who'd 'a thunk?

A recap of the vacation (with photos!) is coming. In the meantime,

here's a little of what we have been up to this week.

On Sunday morning, Liam and McKenna woke up with colds.

Blast.

Matt wasn't feeling all that hot either so he stayed home with the sickly ones

while Alyssa and I went to Church.

Monday was better. McKenna magically got over the cold in a day just in time for her best neighborhood pal Rachel, to come over and play.

They disappeared into the toy room for an hour.

It was heavenly. I actually got to cook dinner in relative peace.

Bless you Heidi for letting her stay.

Tuesday ended up being doctor day. Liam had cried all night.

(I have no idea how the girls slept through it because Matt and I sure didn't.)

He was wheezing and rattling and generally sounding terrible that morning.

Since I was going in to work late because of my own appointment anyway,

I ended up just calling in sick and then taking Liam to the doctor.

Double ear infections and RSV do not make for a happy baby.

The nebulizer treatment at the doctors office worked wonders

(WONDERS I tell you!)

though and we are now the proud owners of this fancy set up to help at home:

Albuterol inhaler and children's mask

Liam HATES it but we are finally getting sleep and wondering how we have managed so far without this. Someone finally decided that when the kid is constantly getting bad colds that go straight to his chest, he might have some asthma issues like his older sister.
Hallelujah!

Wednesday was haircut day for most of us. My sweet niece Shannon got her license a week or two ago and we were privileged to be the first in line for family haircut night.

McKenna (surprisingly) volunteered to go first.
Her request was that her hair stay long enough to still be considered princess hair (even though she knows it probably won't get as long as Rapunzel's).

Then Alyssa (not a fan of the spray bottle).

I went next, leaving about 5-6 inches on the floor, in the hopes that shorter hair would induce the beginning of spring. (No pictures until my cold sore goes away.) I'll let you know how that spring thing works out.

And Liam was last.
It took three people and a dog to get him finished.
Shannon did a phenomenal job in spite of the fact that he wouldn't hold still for more than 5 seconds at a time. (Not exaggerating.)

Thursday was date night. We actually went out to a MOVIE. And then dinner, with FRIENDS.
I wasn't sure either of those activities could still be done!

So we are sick again, but on the mend, no doubt thanks to the new fabu haircuts from Shannon. I'm getting spring fever so I hope the magic haircut works!

Birthday Boy!

My baby is turning ONE today.

How did this happen so fast?

One minute he was a teeny tiny baby(okay, 9 1/2 pounds wasn't that small, but still...)

Now he's a big kid that can clap and put up his dukes on command.

He stands up (no walking yet!) and crawls like lightning (just ask Aunt Lori's dog).

I'm sad that the baby stage is so rapidly being replaced by toddlerhood!

But I love seeing how his cute little personality is coming out.

Happy Birthday Little Moose!