The Bryant Bunch

Where does all the T.P. go???

2012-02-06T10:26:00.003-07:00

I had to take a picture of Lauren's dolls and there "sleeping bags." Too funny:)

All Girl:)

2012-01-21T09:00:00.000-07:00

I love how Lauren plays with her Strawberry Shortcake Friends. She carefully lined them all up in a row on the floor so I had to take a pic because it looked so cute. She loves these dolls (thanks Grandma Jenny and Papa Greg)! She took them to show-in-tell today because they smell fruity. "F" is the letter of the week and the topic was the 5 senses, so it worked out pretty well. The other thing she did was grab a bunch of tissues and use them as pillows and beds (she has done this before with T.P. and her mini princess dolls). Sometimes you just have to stop and look at the small, simple stuff . . .like kids pretend play:)

Dance!!!

2012-01-20T14:57:00.005-07:00

We finally signed Lauren up for dance for the first time EVER! Because of the chemo effect on her immune system and her profound anemia we weren't super comfortable doing it when she was 3+. She has been doing well for a while now, it's just been busy as usual around here. We happened to get her in a class right before they started a new session this month. Here she is posing before her first class (ballet and tap combined). She gets to go with her best friend Mae. Her teacher is Ms. Julie and she seems AMAZING! She is super good with Lauren and she has already learned some dance vocab and moves. She LOVES it! We are super excited to see her perform in the spring recital:)

Missing 2 front teeth. . .well sort of

2012-01-18T21:15:00.000-07:00

December 17th, 2011
In December Brady was SO excited to finally have a loose tooth. We wiggled it and jiggled it for a few weeks so it was super loose, but he didn't want me to pull it out. I tried a little once and it made a horrible noise and bled a bit (which scared Brady) so I stopped. I remember my dad would always promise he would just "look" at my loose tooth, but would always yank it out. It made me cry for a second then I was excited it was out:) You think I would have stopped showing him.

I happened to notice his adult tooth growing in behind it so I really wanted to get the baby one out. My brother Greg (AKA the Dentist) did the old floss around the tooth and shut the door. Well it worked and the tooth went flying! We looked and looked but couldn't ever find it. Brady wanted the tooth fairy to come, but NO TOOTH! He wrote her a little note and she came!!!

Well, fast forward a few weeks later and ditto! His adult tooth was growing in behind again! His tooth wasn't as loose this time, but Brock and I tied the floss then I had Brady shut the back door (because he was worried I would shut it too hard). The tooth came right out, but this time it was still hanging by the floss. He was super excited to see what it looks like (and his blood hole - as he terms it). It bled for a little bit but he was super excited to have a tooth to take to school so he could get a tooth box. The tooth fairy left 4 quarters this time (no $ bill in stock I guess;). He was excited to have the money and even more excited to take the tooth to school. I told him the tooth fairy knows how much he wanted to keep it so that is why she left it.

January 17th, 2012
Tonight he (on the umpteenth time of coming out of bed. . .Just got out again and it's almost 9:30PM!!) asked me if I left the money under his pillow (which I of course denied immediately) because Logan at school said the tooth fairy isn't real! Man, way to take some fun and excitement away Logan!!! I told him the tooth fairy doesn't visit Logan because he doesn't believe in him. Then he asked if she was going to come again tonight since he still has his tooth. . .LOL. Smart kid:)

wOw! It's been busy around here. . .

2011-09-29T19:29:00.004-06:00

SO, I noticed it's been FOR-EV-ER since I blogged, but it's been a bit busy around here. I am making stuff again for our neighborhood boutique (Next Friday, October 7th 10-5PM). I am excited, but stressed a little about finishing what I started, and also about selling things. It went well last time, so hopefully it is successful again, and I won't be left with too many things. . .unless they are different items.

Brady is in the 1st grade and is loving school. I thought he would come home tired. . .at least a little;) It is his first ALL-day school! He hasn't really enjoyed homework as much, thankfully he is getting the hang of it (the fact he can actually play once he finishes, rather then dragging it out for 2+ hrs!). He loves to buy lunch, but who knows what if anything much he actually eats on those days. He is my busy boy, and mealtimes are no different. Whenever he takes his lunch he comes home with practically the entire thing and has his 'snack' after school. I know he has to sit on the bench, but I am sure he is chatting away instead of eating. He is getting better at reading, and reads to me every day for 10-15 min (from the books he borrows from his teacher). I am definetely excited he is picking it up:)

Lauren starts preschool on my birthday, a week before Halloween. I think it will be nice to have her go socialize and learn for a couple hours M/W/F, then it will be just me and Courtney! She has finally tackled bedwetting. She has been daytime potty trained since she turned 2, but has been in pull ups for 2 yrs! She has no gone for almost 2 weeks in underwear! The first night was a disaster, unire soaked bed and girl in the middle of the night, so bathtime and changing of the sheets is always fun in the wee hours of the morning. Needless to say she slept in underwear AND pullups for a couple nights after that and remained dry. Hopefully she keeps it up. She has also managed to quit sucking her thumb, which feels like an absolute miracle! We used this thumb sucking nailpolish my friend gave me, and it worked well. She actually asked for it over a week ago (of course it was midnight, but I painted them). That is THE best habit gone!!

Courtney is talking up a storm. She is really good at names (unlike Brady who still asks his COUSINS what there names are!!). She is a lefty like Brady too, but a big eater (not like Brady)! We are trying to tackle the bink right now. She has only used it for nap/bed times for months and months. But I finally decided this week she needs to try to be bink free. She has done 2 nap times in a row without it and tonight is the first night. So far, so good:) Hopefully she will keep it up!

Well, once this boutique is over and things settle down I will finally get around to bloogging the rest of my trip. One day. . .SOON!

Venice and Burano

2011-08-08T15:11:00.021-06:00

Tuesday, June 14 (day 8)

We spent the day in Venice. We rode into the city in the morning and caught our boat to St.Mark's Square. I was surprised to find out that their are about 150,000 visitors a day and 50% of the inhabitants work with tourism. It is a very expensive place to live. We went directly to see a glass demonstration at the Merano Glass Company where we saw some very expensive, beautiful pieces (200-thousands of Euro's). He made a glass decorative pitcher and a horse within a few minutes, making it look super easy (especially for the price!). My mom and I both bought a bracelet at a nearby shop made with glass beads. Then we toured around the city until our gondola ride off the Grand Canal. On the gondola ride we had the main seats and the accordion player and singer were on our boat. We had a wonderful ride down the Grand Canal as we were serenaded. We turned down side canals and saw unique Venetian buildings, bridges, and canals. Lots of people stopped to watch our group since we had music. After the ride we bought a piece of pizza to share that was delicious with green olives too! I bought a mask at a shop by the Rialto bridge, then met our tour for Burano. It was a really hot day with beautiful blue skies and CROWDS of people (it was nice to get a way for a few hours). We took a 45 minute ride by boat to Burano. It was spectacular with it's brightly painted buildings and leaning tower. We saw how they make lace and I bought a pricey, but beautiful white with lace tablecloth and napkins. We bought some more water and pastries while we walked around the island. Then we went back to the St. Mark's Square for lots of free time. We went down the closest street to get out of the sun since it was VERY hot! It felt good for a few minutes until more and more people had the same idea, then it wasn't quite as breezy. We walked around Venice more, and came to a square where locals kids were playing soccer and riding their bikes, and went inside a church there. Then we went to a little cafe to use the bathroom, we bought calamari and an apple drink so we could use the WC. We wandered into shops--masks, glassware, linens, etc. Then shared a pizza again for dinner at a cafe. We admired the ceiling/arcade around the church made of gold mosaics and watched the clock figures strike the hour and the digital time change from VII 55 to VIII00. Then we met our group again for the ride back to the hotel.

View of St. Marks's Square from our boat ride in to Venice.Standing on the Rialto Bridge.Ponte dei Sospiri (Bridge of Sighs) that is being cleaned. Not quite as spectacular covered in huge billboards. Burano.Lace making shop. It takes about 7 women many months to make most of the lace items for sale. They each have a specific stitch they do.

Belgium, Germany, Austria, and a hint of Italy

2011-07-31T13:19:00.054-06:00

Saturday, June 11 (day 5)
We had a full English breakfast and then met the Cosmo tours and got on a bus to Dover. We saw the white cliffs of Dover, then boarded the ferry and crossed the English Channel to the mainland. I took some Dramamine since I got sick once on a short cruise to Ensenada, Mexico. I was so tired I could hardly keep my eyes opened, and dozed off and on. We had our last scone, jam and clotted cream with some hot chocolate and a sausage roll. Once we arrived in Belgium we checked into our hotel, washed some clothes, then off on the bus to tour Brussels. We went to an arch celebrating an anniversary of the monarchy and by the royal palace and the American embassy before going to the city square. We saw the guild halls and the famous statue of the little boy peeing on the street corner. We saw the museum that houses all his clothes too. We had some Fantastic lemon drink at the ale house. Then bought some Belgian Liege Waffles with strawberries and Belgian chocolate. We went to two different chocolate shops and bought two chocolates at each place. We got some Belgian fries with Andolaise sauce--mayonnaise, ketchup and peppers. We then walked around the square and each got a Belgian waffle, mine had cream, hazelnut and Belgian chocolate. I couldn't finish it though because it was SO rich and sweet. Then headed back on our touring bus passing by a couple cathedrals on our way to the hotel.

White cliffs of DoverThe English ChannelBelgian royal palaceFamous statue in Belgium, Manneken PisBelgian waffles - not like the typical waffles we have for breakfast, they are a dessert, much more sweet and dense.Belgian fritesSunday, June 12 (day 6)

We had breakfast at our hotel. Great pain au chocolate. Then it was off for another day of touring. We drove through Brussels past some of the same things we saw the night before. Then on to the autobahn known for it's lack of speed limit, although there are some areas which do (about 47%). The fastest speed I saw was 130 kilometers per hour (81 mph). Here and there you could see beautiful vistas. We crossed into Germany, had our first paying bathroom break, then stopped for lunch and shared a bratwurst with mustard and a roll. When we got back on the bus we ate our Nehaus hazelnut chocolate we brought the night before in Brussels. Now on to Boppard for the Rhine cruise. We wandered around Boppard for a few minutes before boarding the boat, and I bought a Christmas ornament and a small toy for Courtney. We boarded the boat for a wonderful cruise. The weather was perfect too. We saw quaint villages, beautiful castles and vineyards lining the hills. After the cruise we got back on the bus for our trip to the Ulm area. Next a bathroom stop in Germany, the second where we had to pay. This time there was a machine and it was €.70 per person. The toilet seat had an automatic cleaner where the seat turned and molded around under a cleaner. Some of us couldn't figure out how to flush it and accidentally pushed the self-cleaning button first. We got to our hotel and had dinner across the street, then walked into the town center of Gunzburg. We left our hotel window open to air out since it smelled of smoke, but came back to a bug filled room.

Bratwurst lunchCruise shipBeautiful scenery along the Rhine RiverMonday, June 13 (day 7)
After breakfast it was a drive through Bavaria, the largest area of Germany. There was a lot of riding on the coach since we are seeing a large area in a short amount of time. The Tyrol area was beautiful with aqua colored water, trees, mountains and lots of wood sheds all over and neat stacks of wood everywhere-most with tarps over. We saw the beautiful alps on our way to Innsbruck, Austria. After arriving in Innsbruck we saw the building with The Golden Roof-the most important symbol of the city. The tour took us to the Swarovski store where my mom and I both bought a pair of crystal earrings. We walked back toward the place with the Golden Roof and each got a linen, lace edged table runner made in Austria. Musicians were playing from the balcony when we walked back. We asked a couple shop clerks for good quick places to eat and they kept telling us McDonald's (rudely)--like all Americans want and like to eat there. We stumbled upon a small supermarket where we got a delicious sandwich with cucumbers to share. We also got a salad which was labeled a Waldorf Salad but was more like a mayonnaise rich Cole slaw with some pineapple which I thought was ghastly. We also got a package of Kinder cookies which were layers of chocolate, hazelnut and ice cream wafers. We sat on a window ledge and shared it, then we bought a warm apple strudel. We walked back to the bus seeing the river that ran through the city. We then drove through beautiful mountain scenery, crossing into Italy. The Dolomite mountains was the location of a two year fighting period during World War I. The mountains were very rugged and high. We stopped in Cortina, an elite ski village where we walked to the church in the city center. Then it was down to the Po River Delta towards Venice. We crossed one of the highest bridges in the world, higher than the Eiffel Tower. The buildings changed drastically from Swiss style to Italian. We checked into our hotel, had a dinner of risotto and swordfish then took a bus to the boat to travel to St. Mark's Square. We enjoyed a lemon soda and ice cream and a wafer at the Florian Cafe in the Square which had a date of 1720 in it's salon inside. We were entertained with music while we sat there. We then made a quick trip to the Rialto Bridge, then back to the Square for a boat and bus ride back to the hotel.Innsbruck, AustriaYummy, warm apple strudelInnsbruck Golden Roof Dolomite mountainsCortinaSunset and vineyards on the way to VeniceVenice at nightRialto Bridge

BIRTHDAY"S!!!

2011-07-16T16:55:00.054-06:00

More Europe updates to come next week! But I thought I better catch up on other happenings.

Brady celebrated his 6th birthday while I was in Europe. Brock took the kids to costco and Brady choose pizza and some danish pastries (complete with a birthday candle on top later that day). Brock did a wonderful job making sure he did something special for Brady, since I wasn't able too. He even took pictures!
Then they had a birthday dinner at Red Robin's with Brock's family where he got a light saber, star wars lego set, and some clothes. We had a really small birthday celebration the 5th of July with Allison & Curt, Elaina, Lance & Issac, and my mom. Allison and Curt were here visiting and decided to spend 1 evening with each family and it was our turn. We had a delicious dinner, then he got a box of Lego's - something he really loves and some $ from grandma Venita! The cake I made him was a Lego's cake too! He thought it was pretty cool. It always takes forever to make the kids cakes. . .even if they don't look like it! Next was Lauren's birthday on July 12th. She turned 4 and had a fabulous party with her cousins, aunts and uncles, and grandparents. My kids still haven't had a friends party yet. Maybe next year??? She choose a princess crown cake. It took a while to do too, but it turned out pretty well. I also made a delicious homemade carrot cake from a recipe Allison gave me, it was delicious! It always takes a lot of work, but the kids enjoy having everyone over. She got a barbie, and barbie stuff, and a barbie scooter and barbie helmet. . .notice the trend? She is WAY into barbies right now! She got some gum which she shared with all her cousins. Art supplies (which the kids have had a blast with the last few days), strawberry shortcake doll, clothes, books, and an adorable tutu AKA 'marry dress' as Lauren calls it that Becah made for her.

LONDON

2011-07-08T21:59:00.015-06:00

June 10 (day 4)
Another active day. We started by packing up and changing hotels. After leaving our luggage at the new hotel it started to really pour with rain. We eventually worked our way to the tube station. We went to Camden Town we almost turned around because of the rain but decided to stay. It was a good choice and we walked around the market and the locks, watching two long boats go through a lock, and having delicious hot donuts dipped in chocolate and topped with nuts/sprinkles. We walked through the Stables Market and stopped where my mom ate last time she was here and had delicious Cream Salmon pasta. We took the tube to Tottenham Court Station but it was raining again. We worked our way again through the rain to the British Museum where we spent a couple of hours.We went back to the tube and went to Queensway station and walked past Kensington Palace to the Albert Memorial and the Royal Albert Hall. After walking past the Hyde Park Chapel, our last stop was the Victoria and Albert Museum. We ate first--guinea fowl with roasted potatoes and vegetables as well as a scone, strawberry jam, clotted cream (it sounds disgusting, but is actually delicious - like thick whipped cream), as well as a pain de chocolat which we shared. We spent a while walking around the museum. Then it was back to the Hammersmith Station where we bought some treats at Tesco to bring home and eat on our tour, used wifi at McDonalds and then to the Novotel hotel which was a really nice modern room (technically the first day of our tour - The best of Italy, and France).Camden Lock.The British MuseumCeiling inside the museum.

The Rosetta stone.Kensington Palace.The Royal Albert Hall.Albert Memorial.The Albert and Victoria Museum.Court inside the museum.

LONDON

2011-07-08T21:03:00.021-06:00

June 9th (day 3)
We had a traditional English breakfast: eggs, cooked tomatoes, cooked mushrooms, bacon (like our ham). We even tried Black Pudding (I had no idea what it was or what it was called until AFTER I tried it. . .YUCK! It's made up of blood- thus the black color, and a variety of different meaty parts). Then we took the tube to the tower of London . We had a tour with a Beefeater and then saw the crown jewels and the White tower. It was one of my favorite things to see in London. We had a delicious lunch of fish and chips, sausage roll, and butter and jam cake. Then we walked out on the Tower Bridge and then back along the Thanes Walk to The Bourough market. We bought a yummy Pain de chocolat to share. Then we walked by the Globe theater and over the millennium bridge to St. Paul's Cathedral. It was closed so we took a doubledecker bus to Covent Gardens and then walked to leicester Square and had Haagen Daas Ice Cream. We walked through China Town, found our theater and then went to a McDonald's to use wifi. We were able to see the play Les Miserable which was absolutely spectacular. I could see it again and again! They even had a couple original cast members. After we walked past Leicester square, then Trafalgar square in hopes it would be illuminated (it wasn't) so we headed down to Big Ben. We walked and saw The Thames, then took the tube to Victory and to our hotel.

I had to note all the different signs/phrases they use in London. After riding the tube for a few days, you can't help but have this phrase running thru your head since it is played aloud over and over!
One of the Beefeater's. It's a very sought after military position, so it is an honor to be a Beefeater. They give amazing tours at the Tower of London, explaining much of London's history. The White TowerChapel inside the Tower. Liked how it looked with the light coming thru the windows.Notice the pointed building in the background. . .it's in a lot of movies.Tower Bridge.View from the bridge.London BridgeShakespeare's Globe TheatreSt. Paul's Cathedral

LONDON

2011-07-08T20:04:00.022-06:00

June 8th (day 2)

The first day was exhausting due to the time change. We basically were up for the entire day without much of any sleep . . .only a couple hours on the plane. After a very long wait to show our passports we were in for another wait for the bus to get to the Central Bus Station at Heathrow. Then we were finally on the National Bus to Victoria Station. We got to our hotel easily and left our luggage--it was too early to get a key. Then we were off. First we saw the changing of the Guards. Then we walked through St. James Park and to Westminster Abbey where we took an audio tour. We walked by Big Ben and the Houses of Parliament, and that is where it really started to rain so we went into the Tube. After that we walked to Trafalgar Square and then rode a double decker bus past Piccadilly Circus to Oxford Street. Walked down Carnaby Street and Burlington Arcade. It started to rain again (a common theme while we were in London) so we walked back to Trafalgar Square and went to St. Martins-in-the-Field Church where we ate in the crypt. We shared an apple crisp with warm custard for dessert (pudding as they call it). We then went to the National Gallery, saw some famous pieces of art then rode the bus to Harrods where we looked around a bit. It is an enormous store and we were getting pretty tired by that time. We took the tube back to our hotel and ate the strawberry tart we bought at Harrods. We were so happy to SLEEP that night!
Westminster AbbyBig BenThe London EyeTrafalgar Square (before the storm) Bikes for rent are located throughout different parts of the city.Trafalgar Square (the 2nd time we saw it after the downpour). The National GallerySt. Martins-in-the-Field Church (we ate in the crypt). Piccadilly Circus

Europe day 1->2

2011-07-04T12:57:00.013-06:00

We spent our most of our first day traveling. We left SLC early in the morning and arrived in Boston for a layover (and a yummy crab roll we shared) then arrived in London around 7:00AM their time (11PM ours) so needless to say we were pretty tired that day but managed to stay up all day long! We saw SO many things, and I took TONS of pictures (over 2,000+) while we were gone, so narrowing the photos down will be a little hard.

1st stop (after the 2+ hrs in customs line at the airport, and dropping our bags off at the hotel) was the changing of the guards at Buckingham Palace. As you may see it is completely packed when they do the change, but fun to see.

Well, I ran out of time so will have to blog the rest another day. Off to my mom's for 4th of July family fun! More to come later. . .

European Vacation!

2011-06-06T12:47:00.010-06:00

Well my mom and I are heading off to our Europe trip bright and early in the AM. We will be gone for 3 WHOLE Weeks! I have never left our kids (except for when working my night shifts), so it will be a HUGE adjustment. Poor Brock. . .hopefully he will make the best of it and have a great time with the kids while I am gone. I guess he will get to see how much I do (that he doesn't even notice;). I don't think they realize how long I will be gone, since they don't understand the concept of time. Well, I am super excited, but know it will go quickly. More to come in July:)

Miscellaneous May

2011-05-31T20:07:00.014-06:00

So for my 3rd post TODAY, I thought I would just put some random pictures I took on May 21st (our 10 year anniversary!!!).

Brock was great and got the vegetable garden planted a few weeks ago. I finished the front flowers, but still need to do the planters. Anyways, here is a picture of all the squash that have been popping up (I left a small squash in the garden all winter so some seeds were inadvertently mixed in the soil - and they STILL keep popping up!).
I took the funniest picture of Lauren - but Brock didn't want me to post it. She happened to come out of our bedroom with one of my bras on so I snapped a quick pic since I had the camera out. This is the only other one I got of her. I didn't want her to be left out of the post.

Brady's Dance Program

2011-05-31T19:58:00.011-06:00

It was one busy week with 3 days in a row of practice + programs, the beginning of May. The last program was a dance program. Beacon Heights was able to have a dance teacher come teach the kids once a week, and it was a really good program. He had fun participating and loves to wear his new shirt.

Brady's Kindergarten Play

2011-05-31T19:45:00.009-06:00

Brady was one of the King's men for the kindergarten's performance of Mother Goose nursery rhymes. Not the best pictures, but at least a documentation of what he did. I took a little video too (one of these days I will figure out how to upload them. . .without too much difficulty).

Lauren's Mother's Day Program

2011-05-26T17:30:00.001-06:00

Lauren did a great job at her last preschool performance. She knew most of the songs (she sings them daily!) and did some of the actions. It was super cute to watch. For some reason, no matter where I sit I don't get the best shots at her programs. . .oh well, better to have these then none:) I worked Mother's Day but Brock was sweet and made some yummy "beehive" cookies (as he calls them) and the kids made me cards. It was quite a busy day at the hospital with well over double the usual census there, so needless to say I said my hello's fast and got back to work.

More Easter Pics

2011-05-26T17:30:00.000-06:00

Well, I keep having technical difficulties, but here are some more Easter pictures. . .now way overdue.

Enjoy!

Courtney and her treats. . .

Complete with an Easter Egg hunt at Grandma Jenny and Papa Greg's house.

Easter - better late than never

2011-05-20T12:22:00.000-06:00

Easter was a busy day. After getting off my 24-hr shift at Primary Children's I came home just in time to see the kids looking in there baskets. It was SO fun to see there excitement to find out the Easter bunny had come while they were sleeping;) We got everyone ready and off to church. Afterwards, Papa Mark and Ya Ya stopped by with an Easter gift for the kids. They were in heaven all day. . .candy, gifts. . .who wouldn't be? Then we headed to Papa Greg's and Grandma Jenny's house for a yummy Easter dinner and more Easter goods! The kids got to have a fun Easter egg hunt with their cousins too. All in all it was a wonderful day and we enjoyed spending it with our family.

(OK, I really have more pictures to post, but every time I add one and move it down it erases it so I will have to post the other pics later. . .)

St. George

2011-04-25T22:20:00.001-06:00

The weather was absolutely perfect! It was hard to come back to the cold when the temp's were mid to high 70's and sunny, and a bit windy at times. It was a nice break, just to get out of town for a short vacation. The car rides there and back were pretty good thanks to some snacks and movies for the kids. Poor Courtney was the only one that didn't have a fun(?) car ride. Thankfully she slept off and on. We stayed with Brock's Gramma Jackie. Buzz, Heidi, Chloie and Avery were in St. George too so we got to hang out a couple times which was super fun!

Brady and I goofing around on the car ride to the museum. We got to sit with each other a lot so Gramma could ride in the front.We went to the Dino museum (I think Brock had the best time. . .the kids were a little young to really appreciate more then a little time there).

After that we headed to In-N-Out for lunch. Then we got to go swimming with everyone. The kids were terrified and took a while to warm up to the idea on letting the death grip they had on us loosen a little. They really liked the hot tub though. I think the pool was a little cool. We lounged at the pool for a couple hours then headed back to Gramma's.Gramma made a delicious spaghetti and meatball dinner (which we got to enjoy for a couple nights). We played a good game of Scrabble. . .a super close game, but Avery pulled off a win. Then after another yummy spaghetti dinner the next night Gramma had bought an egg dye kit and also got some stickers for the kids to decorate eggs, so we picked up some eggs to boil and made a night of it. They were all so colorful and the kids had fun.The next day we headed to Turtle Rock for a little hike/walk around. Lauren had her usual shoe issues so had to be carried until she figured out how to walk better and keep the rocks and dirt from flipping into her shoes. It is so beautiful with the blue skies and bright orange rocks.Then we headed to Tuacahn for a picnic lunch and to see where Gramma volunteers. We got a little demonstration of what she does there (collecting tickets) and got to see the stage. It would be super fun to venture there for a production. . .one of there days. The kids got a little souvenir there (Brady wanted a picture of his snake which he LOVES). Then we ended the day with some yummy dinner at The Pizza Factory.Our last day started out a little rough for me. I got a really bad migraine, so the morning and afternoon were waisted away lying in bed drinking a Coke Zero and tons of ibuprofen. I finally got up (again) at 3PM and we headed to the Sand Hollow Aquatics Center (no photos, because I didn't want to have to worry about the camera, plus I wasn't feeling 100%). We left Courtney with Gramma and she slept the whole time! Lauren was super scared (demonstrated by her death grip) and Brady warmed up pretty quickly. We definitely need to get some swimming lessons in the works since they have never had any. Brady went down the water slide once with me and that was enough for him. They played with the water toys and went down the mini slide the rest of the time. Lauren warmed up to the idea of letting go of us about 40 minutes into the swimming trip and actually had a ton of fun.

That evening we got to accompany Gramma to her clubhouse for dinner with all the 55's and over. Then a good night sleep followed by a long ~7 hr trip home (with a couple errands along the way). Needless to say we were all pretty exhausted. We got unpacked and I did laundry until about 11 PM then slept, worked a 24- hr shift, and got off Easter morning (that will be a post for another day. . .the picture files are HUGE and take me for-ev-er to download and I have to do 2-3 at a time or it won't work. I need to figure out a better way, but haven't figured it out yet).

Off to sunny St. George. . .well, maybe rainy (but still nice to get out of town!). More updates to come next wk.

2011-04-18T08:21:00.002-06:00

Boutique TOMORROW!

2011-04-07T11:11:00.002-06:00

Can't wait to see how everything works out tomorrow. I have been working like crazy to make things for this boutique, along with several other friends. I have seen some of the things they have been making and they are incredible!!! It goes from 10 AM- 5 PM @ 2017 Kensington Ave (just below 2100 E and N of 1700 S in Sugarhouse). Hope you can make it!

March

2011-03-27T13:49:00.026-06:00

Wow! I didn't realize how much of a slacker I have been on the blogging lately. . .I guess I've been too busy crafting for a boutique I am doing with some neighborhood friends Friday, April 8th (more to come on that. . .). I am sure Brock can't wait until I am done, since I have pretty much taken over the downstairs. Oh, well . . .I will be done one of these days:)

Lauren and Brady were able to go to the Make-a-Wish Princess Tea Party. . .I originally didn't have anyone to watch Brady and when we RSVP'd they said other boys AKA princes would be there too so Brady was excited to go. My mom ended up watching Courtney, and Brady decided he still wanted to go. I am sure he felt a little left out initially. There was only 2 other boys (both little boys, < 2yrs old) and all the girls were getting make up on. At that point he wanted to go, but soon he was having 'the best day ever' (as he would say it).

Lauren and Brady being welcomed by one of the prince'sLauren getting her make-up on, complete with purple sparkly eyeshadow

Walking on the red carpet lined with all the princesses (girls from all over Utah who have won a pageant AKA scholarships). The kids were on Fox13 news that night walking down the carpet and eating tea and cookies.Lauren was surrounded by princesses. . .They were SO cute to her and just adored her! She had an amazing time! It actually made me want to bawl to see all the little kids like Lauren being treated like the princesses they are.Lauren dancing with the Prince. She was having fun. . .no smiles for the camera though. She even danced with Brady!Brady had tons of fun being surrounded by girls! They adored him too and he loved every minute of it. He took this princess AKA Belle outside to dance. He even danced with a little 2 yr old for a second. . .super cute! Lauren with her jewel shoes. . .she absolutely LOVES shoes! I remember her asking all the Disney princesses if she could see there shoes while we were in Disney world.Lauren checking out her goods. She got a necklace, some toy rings, a crown (she is wearing) and a princess slap bracelet along with some perfume samples (which she graciously sprayed all over the van while I was pulling out of my mom's driveway. . . making quite the intoxicating drive home).Brady was excited they found him a boy gift, and toted that turtle around for days afterwards

Courtney LOVES girly things already. Bracelets, purses, necklaces, babies, you name it! It is SUPER cute to see her so I had to snap some pictures

Birthday Fun

2011-02-21T22:03:00.011-07:00

We had a fun time at Jenny's house celebrating Chris and Becah's birthdays this Sunday.

Brady, Lauren, & Nick had fun playing with each other, eating popcorn, and sleeping over at Grandma's house.

Courtney LOVED all the attention. . .here she is with Aunt Heidi. Courtney gave cousin Taylor a LOVE, which was SO adorable! She especially loved sharing Chris' cheesecake.All the girls. . .well except me. Good/bad side of having the camera and taking pics is never being in them.

February Happenings

2011-02-13T17:09:00.017-07:00

Brady had his Patriotic program a couple weeks ago. It was SUPER cute to see him and all his classmates singing patriotic songs and saying their parts. He did a good job. He had his part memorized the first day he got it and would tell it to me almost everyday until the program. It was cute to see some of his friends too. Lauren and Courtney came too. Brady got a certificate saying he knows the Pledge of Allegiance and it's meaning. It was probably his only program (other then school-wide programs - which are full of kids and parents and difficult to see him since the Kindergartners sit in the first row).

Greg and his family gave us a bird house we could build for Christmas. Brady loves to put things together and could hardly wait to build it. Unfortunately we kept putting it off, so when Greg and Erica came over this week to borrow a camera battery Greg helped him build it. He of course had a blast building it with Greg. Now if our trees would grow faster;)

I had to take some pictures of Courtney because I LOVE her piggies:) It reminds me a bit of Lauren when she had hair long enough for pig tales. We love her chubby face too:) She is speaking more, which is nice because she can tell us what she wants/needs sometimes. She is also getting a bit more brave and can stand unassisted for a few seconds too.Lauren with her piggies at about the same age as Courtney. She couldn't walk yet either, unless she was holding onto our fingers.

FINALLY!!! Lauren's Journey. . .the slide show

2011-02-09T22:00:00.003-07:00

I finally loaded the movie I made (after shortening it- speeding up the pictures which meant changing the music a bit too and making the file smaller - hence a little grainy). It's about Lauren's journey, from pre-diagnosis, surgery, ending with the completion of her Make-a-Wish trip (Disneyworld). It brought tears to my eyes when I put it together, and still makes me feel a variety of emotions. I am grateful the hardest part of the 'journey' is now over.

She started her 'regular' 3 month checkup today and all CT scans (chest, abdomen, and pelvis) remained cancer free, she continues with some small lymph nodes around her spleen but they haven't changed and aren't enlarged. Unfortunately her lab results were invalid (very difficult draw from an IV that took 2 pokes too!) so we need to go back to the hospital tomorrow to have them redrawn. . .I haven't broken the bad new to Lauren yet, we found out after being home about 30 minutes. She HATES pokes! (and who wouldn't blame her?).

Hope you enjoy the pictures.

Play Time

2011-01-22T11:17:00.007-07:00

The girls were able to have a little playdate while Brady was at school. They had fun dressing up and having a tea party.

Discovery Gatway and MORE!

2011-01-18T21:13:00.008-07:00

We bought a pass to Discovery Gateway-the children's museum last January. I don't think I have ever brought a camera there so I thought it was about time since our pass expires the end of the month. The kids LOVE going there! It can be super busy and overwhelming at times trying to keep track of 3 kids, but we decided it would be fun to invite Bethany and cousin Nick and Taylor today. So we all braved the crowd for a couple hours of kid fun.

The Life Flight helicopter is always a hit, thankfully it wasn't too crowded out there so they each got to 'fly' it a few times.Lauren of course gravitated to the doll house (Courtney liked it too. She was just happy to get out of the stroller and crawl around).Brady loves to see how things work. There were a few new things upstairs which was nice, it kept there attention a lot more then usual.Taylor was such a good baby! She just loved watching everyone.Nick and Brady working with the construction stuff.

Lauren was a little apprehensive (a couple bad experiences there have left her a little scared/worried) and stayed right by me. She was exhausted and fell asleep on the way home. She is doing better overall and has a little more energy, her face is not as hollow and has more color, and she is now gaining a little weight now. She is set to see the Oncologist again the beginning of February and will have her next CT scan then. Fingers crossed everything will continue to look good.Courtney LOVED riding in the bumble bee car, she couldn't figure out how to go forward, and threw a little tantrum when she had to come out, thankfully it was short lived:)Courtney is getting busier. She loves to crawl and cruise, exploring everything! She reminds me of Brady the most. He has been very cute with her this week too. She didn't appreciate being held, but he loved holding her:)

Christmas (finally). . .AND a whole lot more!

2011-01-04T23:00:00.001-07:00

We hope you all had a wonderful Christmas! We had a wonderful, yet busy time. A coworker happened to want to work Christmas Eve night, so I didn't even work the WHOLE week, which made it even better! We celebrated Christmas earlier in the week at Grandma Venita's, she got all of the kids a pillow pet (which they have been wanting FOREVER!) and we also did the Nativity.We had our own Christmas with the kids at our house Christmas morning. Lauren got a barbie house (which ended up being huge, much bigger then expected), a fishing pole, and stocking stuff. Courtney got musical instruments and bath toys. Brady got Lego's, an Erector set, a fishing pole, and stocking stuff. Then we headed to Grandma Jenny and Papa Greg's house for a yummy breakfast including Jenny McMuffins and other scrumptious stuff. Jenny and Greg got the kids pillow pets too! Brady sounds like a little info commercial for them now. The kids have LOVED them and even slept on them for a week. Lauren got a boy barbie (the beast/prince) and a barbie car. Brady got a Star Wars computer to play abc, math games, ect. Courtney got a cute little doll (she gave it a love too right after opening it - so cute!). They all got a cute outfit and new PJ's. Brock and I got a new cooler, family movie bucket and game. Papa Mark came over to our house later in the afternoon and brought some fun things too. Brady got this (see below) and a 2 little storm troopers. Courtney got some clothes, diapers and wipes. Lauren got some clothes, slippers, and Ya ya made a Tinkerbell blanket for her. The kids had a really fun time this Christmas, and we even had a lot less fighting for one day;)Then we had my mom, sister Elaina, Lance and their little guy Isaac over for a turkey Christmas dinner - my first attempt at turkey believe it or not. It was quite delicious, but made a lot of leftovers. I think I am done with turkey for a while;)

Other December stuff. . .

We celebrated Courtney's birthday at my mom's house. I thought she at least needed her own birthday cake for her first birthday! She had tons of fun eating it and making a mess of it. The cousins had a blast watching her too. We went on the Polar Express to the North Pole with other Make-a-Wish kids. Grandma Venita got to go with us too. We all rode in 3 huge tour buses, had lunch at McDonald's, and then boarded the train for a short 30 min ride to Santa's house where we had cookies, hot chocolate and Santa even got the kids a present!We made gingerbread houses (our yearly tradition) with my mom. The kids loved it and could hardly wait to eat some of the candy off of it.The kids had a blast when they got a secret gift for the 12 days of Christmas from a secret elf. It made the mornings quite fun!

Lauren and Brady both had their school programs. Lauren actually participated this time and it was SUPER cute! Brady did a wonderful job too, singing all the words and doing the actions too.

We had Lauren's star raising party at Make-a-Wish. It was a couple days before Christmas, so a busy time of year. I made a movie/slide show of Lauren's whole experience from just before her diagnosis, thru chemo, hair loss, then to our exciting finale. . .Disney World! It was a very emotional movie at the beginning and I couldn't help but bawl, but it was super exciting at the end. Her wish granters, Jan and Lindsay were amazing! They made yummy appetizers, brought drinks and a princess cake for the party. I think it turned out wonderful!

DISNEYWORLD!!!

2010-12-16T15:02:00.003-07:00

We got back from Lauren's Make-a-Wish trip to Disney world last Monday. It was quite the adventure. . . 3 kids 5 1/2 yrs old and younger! We had an awesome beginning of the trip, meeting one of our wish granters (Jan) at the airport. Her friends/previous coworkers let us board first, meet the pilot, order any food we wanted, and they made it an exciting trip. It was a long trip to Florida, but we made it with 3 crying kids and checked in to the Give Kids the World place. We left our house at 8 AM (Utah time) and finally got to our room/house at ~7 pm (Orlando time). Needless to see we were all pretty exhausted and didn't do much other then unload the car, eat, and go to bed.

The first stop was the Magic Kingdom (we actually spent 2 days in a row there. . .so much to do and so fun for the kids). It was AMAZING! We had a special pass that allowed us almost always immediate access to the rides and characters. We probably waited about 10 minutes tops! It will be hard to visit without this little perk. The Electric parade was cool (except for the hour wait to ensure a spot where we could see it;)

We spent a day at Sea World and got to feed the dolphins. The Shamu, otter, and dolphin shows were super fun. The kids loved the rides there too.

Disney Universal was next, and the kids had a blast there too. You could tell they were starting to get tired though. Brady got a piggy back ride a couple times because he couldn't walk anymore. We saw the show Fantasia, which was spectacular (again the worst part was the hour wait to ensure a seat before the show. . .Courtney was SUPER fussy, but managed to pass out about 10 min. into the show).

We also spent a day at Universal Island of Adventure where The Grinchmas was definitely a highlight of the day. The kids were able to meet characters at every park we went to, Lauren even filled her entire autograph book (now to get the photos printed).

There was so much to do, we didn't have time to do it all. The place we stayed at was amazing too. A little house with 2 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms, kitchen living room, and even a washer and dryer (that came in quite handy for Lauren's accidents . . she was super exhausted and fell asleep on the was to the car):/ We had a yummy breakfast at the gingerbread house every morning and the kids were able to enjoy activities at the Give Kids the World place too.

All in all it was a spectacular trip that seemed to speed by fast. We are so appreciative to all those who made it possible for us to make this trip of a lifetime!

**More photos to come. .. technical difficulties today. . .**

November 2010

2010-11-28T15:00:00.001-07:00

Brady made the cutest card and gifts to give to Brock for his birthday. He is such a creative inventive kid who always comes up with unique inventions! He even made the card and wrote it all by himself. After church we went to Grandma Jenny's for a yummy birthday dinner and got to see the cousins. Brady has made great strides with learning to spell and sounding words out, I never noticed how many words aren't spelled phonetically until now. The other day he told Brock he was M. . .E. . .N! (aka mean) He doesn't believe me when I tell him how the word is really spelled;)

Cousin Riley

Bethany and Cousin TaylorChris, Taryn, and their puppy Josie

We got to meet with Lauren's wish granters (Jan and Nicole) again and got our itinerary for Disneyworld. They brought Lauren a princess backpack full of little princess thing. It will be nice to load it up for our 5 hr flight. The kids are super excited. We made a chain a little bit ago to help them know when we are leaving. It will be so fun for them and such a break from our year.

Jan, Lauren (with her new backpack and barbie), and Nicole

Poor Courtney got Conjunctivitis (pink eye), a runny nose, and an ear infection (the 2nd in 2 months. . .only her L ear both times). Let's hope she doesn't have her daddy's ears! So she is on antibiotics for both. She loves the Amoxicillin and gets mad when it is gone, she HATES the drops and closes her eyes super tight. It is amazing how much better they looked just after 24 hrs. I am glad she seems to be getting better fast just in time for our trip!

We had a wonderful thanksgiving dinner at my mom's (I didn't even have to bake anything. . .we'll except for making the gravy). It was so fun to see everyone again. It seemed like it had been a couple months. The kids had fun playing with there cousins and then we got to stop by Frankie's house and see Serena and the gang, followed by a slide show of Mark and his siblings. It was cute to see the pictures of everyone when they were little.

Brady

Brock

Cousin Eli

Courtney

LaurenCousin Kylie

Cousin Taya

We'll we are off for Disneyworld this week. Let's cross our fingers we get good weather and that the kids have a wonderful time.

Results In. . .Good News!

2010-11-17T11:20:00.000-07:00

We have been anxiously awaiting Lauren's visit this week. She actually went Monday because I felt a small marble-shaped object a little bit above her scar on Friday night (after she had complained a couple random times last week about her tummy hurting. . .which is how it all started in the first place!) and wasn't sure what it was, it definitely worried me along with seeing what the lymph nodes around the spleen were doing over the past 4 weeks. She had her lab draws, urine tests, and abdominal ultrasound Monday. We had been waiting for the results and got them at her regular monthly visit today. She likely has a lipoma (which is what I felt) and the lymph nodes have not changed much. Lauren will be able to get her port (central line) out in 2-3 weeks and then she will go every 6 weeks for a regular check up and every 3 months for scans (CXR and US alternating with CT scan). So the news is good, we will just continue to watch her and hope for a full remission:)

SNOW!

2010-11-07T15:42:00.000-07:00

The kids were super excited to play in the snow. It lasted for a day, and was a total hit! I bought Brady some new snow pants just in time. . .now to buy some 'real' gloves:) Lauren used Brady's old pants and Courtney stayed inside.

Halloween Festivities!

2010-11-05T12:00:00.009-06:00

Of course, as usual there is an overabundance of photos. . .a little behind on the blogging;) Here are just a few shots of the Halloween festivities:

Brady as "The Knight" (as he said it), Courtney as a little ladybug, and Lauren as Snow White

Brady got to walk in a parade with all the other elementary kids. We got a quick glimpse as his class walked thru the halls of the school, picking up each class of on the way and ending in his class. We also got to see him perform a dance to Thriller too. He did an awesome job! It was SO cute to see him perform.

Brady in his Kindergarten class. .. he is in the way back by his teacher's assistant in the waldo costume.

Grandma Venita and Lauren after her Preschool ProgramLauren and Ms. Wendy- her teacher (she also has 2 student teachers who help in her class)Lauren and her preschool class (note the 3 Snow White's. . .the only repetitive costume. Brady was one of 3 superman's when he went to preschool at Ms. Wendy's too)Snow White at the beginning of her program. I thought she would do all the actions and sing all the songs, since she had been doing it at home everyday. She acted a little tired, and maybe stage fright??? There were TONS of people there watching it. . .parents, grandparents, siblings. Luckily we got there just in time to get one of the last seats. Most people had to stand for the program because there were so many people. We brought mummies (a version of pigs in the blanket with little smokies, complete with 2 mustard dots for eyes) and cheese for a refreshment. They were SO cool looking and quite a hit, they were gone super fast.Nick, Brady, and Lauren at Grandma Jenny's and Papa Greg's pre-Halloween partyMe and the kids at the annual Make-a-Wish trick or treating party. We weren't going to go because it was a couple busy hectic days that week, but cousin Riley wanted someone to hang out with. We met up with Becah, Marc and Riley. The kids got to get some candy, fish, and play a tossing game. They had fun so I am glad we went.Brady "fishing"Lauren tossing a beanbag in the pumpkins mouthAnd our final Halloween outing was trunk or treating at the church. No need to go door to door this year. The kids were completely satisfied with the little church outing. I made homemade chicken noodle soup and we had a yummy dinner. Thankfully they didn't get too much candy:)

Good news. . .sort of

2010-10-20T16:18:00.003-06:00

Lauren had her first set of scans off chemo today (3 weeks since her last dose). It was a very long day, starting with her first appointment at 8:30 and getting home ~4pm. She had her CXR first (clear-no cancer) followed by an abdominal ultrasound (showed a questionable area/?mass where her old kidney used to be), then up to the Heme/Onc clinic for a lab draw, some vomiting, and then some play time. I'm not quite sure if she made her self sick because she is sick after every clinic visit (because of the chemo she receives there). She was completely fine before the clinic and after the clinic both times, but she managed to throw up with both visits today. Then back down to Radiology for some contrast (added to apple juice, for her to drink over the period of an hour) and then a CT scan of her abdomen. The results are good for now. . .no tumor, just a lymph node that may or may not have cancer in it. . .time will tell. We need to watch it with another US in 4 weeks and hope it doesn't grow or spread elsewhere. Then back up to chemo to get her port de-accessed, drop off her urine sample I had been carrying around, get her lab results, and make a new appt. I can't wait to see what the node does, hopefully no growth over this month. It is a very nerve racking experience, and I am sure it doesn't get any easier with subsequent scans.

Wishing Time

2010-10-11T11:33:00.013-06:00

Lauren got to make her wish last week, and we are just waiting to get it finalized. Looks like we will be heading to Disney World after Thanksgiving for a week of much needed fun! The kids are SUPER excited. . .and we are too;)

Brady and Lauren making a wish with their special coins at the wishing pond outside

Lauren using her key to open the wishing room door

Following the lighted path to the wishing wizard

Placing her wish for the wizard

Her wish granters. .2 volunteers who made the night special and help to make her wish come true! Nicole and Jan got her yummy cheese pizza and chocolate cupcakes, along with some little presents (including a make-a-wish barbie, the big pink puppy on the table, a make-a-wish car for Brady, a little stuffed toy for Courtney and a few more things).

2010-10-06T20:57:00.004-06:00

Yay! Lauren's ANC and white blood cell counts stayed up enough to go to preschool again this week. Her platelet count dropped a little to 129K. She still is a little tired and falls asleep usually daily at random times.

Courtney is all but crawling. She is so cute and such a wonderful baby. You hardly know when she is around. She loves to mimic sounds now and ONLY wants big girl food (which can be a challenge with 3 teeth. . .one of her front teeth finally came out).

Who knew kindergarten would entail so much homework. Brady can handle a small sheet for homework, but this month he has the equivalent of about 30 sheets worth and 20 minutes of 'reading' a day. It's a challenge to get everything in, between all the usual stuff + some extras.

My ankle has been sore this week. It is now week 2 out of my walking cast + physical therapy= pain and more swelling! They iced my ankle today after PT which made it feel SO much better and have cut back the exercises to only 1 x/day, but also changed them up. We'll see how long it takes to heal and feel 100%. . .

Chemo is DONE. . .Wahoo!!!

2010-09-29T21:04:00.007-06:00

Lauren had her very last chemotherapy dose today. It feels so unreal right now, it's hard to believe she is done with her treatment. She has been such a trooper, and an AMAZING patient (especially for a 2 to newly turned 3-year old).

The staff were so cute at the hospital today and even sang a little song about being done with treatment (to the tune of Happy Birthday To You) and sent her home with a few gifts. It was SO cute! Lauren had fallen asleep in my arms during her treatment which made me want to bawl. . .I don't get many down times to just soak in all that has happened, so she wasn't the happiest camper when we woke her up to take her dressing off and needle out. She got excited to see the little stash of gifts. They chose just what she would have chosen. . . a new Barbie, Tinkerbell bath set, cuddly teddy bear wearing a Cinderella crown, coloring book and crayons, and a soft cozy new blanket. Brady was SUPER excited to help her break it all in to. They could hardly wait to get in the bath tonight.

Well, the next step is weekly blood draws at home for 2 weeks and then another chest x-ray and abdominal ultrasound + blood and urine labs again in 3 weeks. If everything remains 'clean' she will be able to go to monthly appointments for a year and probably get her port out the end of October. She will have to get sedated to get it removed, which will be a new experience (other then her surgery of course). She has to stay on her antibiotics for another 3 months (YIKES. . . 8 months of total antibiotics!) and get no live-attenuated immunizations for a year (6 months for Brady and Courtney) so we will have a bit of time before everyone can catch up on their shots.

We are so grateful for each and everyone of you, who have helped us out in ANY way. We have been so blessed to be thought of and cared for so tenderly. There have been so many amazing people who have touched our lives forever. THANK YOU!!!!

Final Week Coming SOON!!!

2010-09-26T10:49:00.007-06:00

This Wednesday should be Lauren's last chemo day as long as her ANC is at least 1000. It seems hard to believe that it is almost over, 5 months ago we were just getting started. Wahoo! It will be so amazing to have her treatment over, then we can all get back to 'normal' life and she can get back to just being a kid :)

Brady and Lauren have a love-hate relationship. Fortunately this morning it was love! They played tea party with real water and had some much fun. Kids can be so easy to please at times. . .

Courtney LOVES babies! It is so cute to see how excited she gets when we hand her a baby.Lauren's ANC was at an all time high at 2600 this past week (Wed. Sept 22), so she actually got to go to preschool! She was super excited and LOVED every minute of it. She has been talking about her Miss Wendy's for weeks. I know she can't wait until she can go every week.

2010-09-15T20:38:00.003-06:00

Courtney is now 9 months! My how time flies. She is as busy as ever and such a GOOD baby. Even though she doesn't crawl yet, she sure gets around by scooting and rolling. It's so amazing to see the ground she covers. She is teething again, and her front teeth are almost out. She is such a joy to have around and the kids LOVE her (sometimes too much;)

Lauren did ok with her lab draw today. Her ANC is the highest it has been post surgery. . .a whopping 2000! Hct is going strong at 35%, her platelet count is a little lower at 135,000. Counting down the weeks until she is done. . .only 2 more weeks!!!

Scans Clean!

2010-09-09T13:22:00.003-06:00

Just finished week #15. . .
Lauren had her abdominal ultrasound and chest x-ray, both of which were clean (no cancer). Her ANC is back up so she could get her treatment, and even her Hct is on the rise. Poor thing got sick again this time though, but thankfully we got home from dropping Brady off to Kindergarten just in time! The Dr. thought it might have been a fluke last time she was nauseated and vomiting (the day after chemo) but she did it again this week too the day after chemo. . .not really thinking it's a fluke. A little Zofran and she is feeling much better! She gets lab draws at home for 2 weeks and then (drum roll) her last doses of chemo in 3 weeks! YAY! It's hard to believe she is almost done with her treatment. She will get another set of imaging studies (CT vs US) 3 weeks after therapy and then every 3 months. The recurrence rate is pretty low thankfully. Only 1 out of 10 will reoccur, so hopefully she will be one of the 9!

Long Overdue

2010-09-05T20:50:00.000-06:00

I am a bit behind. . .just a tad bit busy lately, so here are some updates below for the end of summer. 1st I'll start with Kindergarten (the most recent adventure).

Kindergarten It's hard to believe we have a kindergartner! Brady started at Beacon Heights Elementary School this past week. 2 days down and many more years of education to go! His teacher is Miss Mary. She is a recent graduate, but seems very nice and enthusiastic. He was super excited to start, so lets hope the excitement continues and he settles into school.

Trial Lake was beautiful as usual. . .Brady, Courtney and mom spent 2 nights there while Lauren and dad stayed at home. It was nice to be able to stay in grandma's tent too. We got to do some fun fishing with the help of Greg. Overall it was a great trip and SO nice to get outside. I even came home to a clean house!

This is the Place Brady has been able to go to 'This is the Place' a few times this summer with his grandma's and papa, and had a blast. It's only $2 per person on Wednesdays so I thought it would be nice to get of the house and do something fun! It was a super hot morning, but the kids had a blast. Brady got his usual shave, they both made bracelets, and Lauren's favorite part was riding the ponies (5 times!). Then we headed to PCMC for Lauren's weekly appointment.

Snowbird This time was super relaxing because my mom had all of my siblings and their families take turns coming up, rather then having everyone there at one time. There were walks, water workout (for me), Bingo, and swinging at the park to name some of the fun things we got to do. I would have to say it was one of the most fun, relaxing times. Once the kids were in bed we got to play games and watch movies with yummy popcorn and cookies right out of the oven. Thanks mom!

When it rains it pours. . .

2010-08-26T16:03:00.002-06:00

1st: Week 13 done. . Lauren did well with her blood draw and her counts still look good! ANC 1600, Platelets 202,000 and Hct 33%.
2nd: It will be a quick little post since I picked up a virus on our computer the end of last week and it's been at PC Laptops waiting to be fixed, should probably be done next Monday. Just checking on things while I am at my mom's today. You forget how handy it is to have a computer and the Internet, until you don't have if for a week+!
3rd: Being my usual klutz. . .I hurt my ankle rolling it off a curb while I was going to water aerobics at the gym. I ended up breaking the lateral aspect of my talus (sits between the fibula-leg bone and heal bone) for the 2nd time in 3 years! Talk about bad luck, thankfully I only need to wear a walking cast for 4 week, then physical therapy for a few weeks.

I think that's enough for one week! More later. . . once I get our computer back:)

Poor thing. . .

2010-08-19T20:51:00.004-06:00

Chemo was completed yesterday. . .12 weeks down! Her ANC actually stayed up reasonably well and we were glad she could get her treatment. She woke up at night crying again, she doesn't ever feel super great the night of chemo, but seemed to be feeling better (at least this morning). Now she gets a break for 2 weeks. . .no actual chemo drugs, just lab draws at home with her port. She then gets a whopping dose again (both drugs and an antiemetic drug) + CXR and abdominal ultrasound on week #15.

They increased one of the chemo drugs yesterday and unfortunately we had our first nausea with vomiting episode while I was getting off the freeway today. It was a huge mess all over the car, Lauren, and her car seat. . .not to mention the lovely smell we all endured the rest of the ride home. Poor thing! She took her Zofran and is feeling much better now. So sad to see/hear her helplessly vomiting and no way to pull over (no shoulder). I was planning on giving her the Zofran as soon as we got home, because I thought she didn't feel quite right (it's hard to have a newly turned-three year old tell you what is wrong). I think it's just because they gave her a good increase in 1 of the chemo drugs. Plus whenever she gets them both at the same time she doesn't seem to feel quite right. Hopefully she will feel good tomorrow.

Week 11

2010-08-13T11:10:00.002-06:00

7 weeks to go! Lauren's ANC is still going strong @ 1600. It will probably drop a bit more this week, hopefully not so much that she can't get her treatment though because we are looking forward to it ending the beginning of October.

Week 10

2010-08-04T17:30:00.002-06:00

We finished week 10 today . . .only 8 more weeks to go. We are on schedule to finish the beginning of October, and lets hope it stays that way:) Lauren did better with her port accessing today, Rachelle the child life specialist was great and really worked on distraction today. Her count (ANC) was the highest it's ever been (2000). She is tired lately and has fallen asleep mid day a few times this week (and what 3 year old does that!), although she still refuses to take a nap. . .you can definitely see the fatigue side effect more lately.

Half-Way Done!

2010-07-28T21:56:00.005-06:00

Wahoo! Lauren got her 9th week of chemotherapy today. Her ANC went up to 1600 by Tuesday so she could get her treatments today. It marks the half-way point. It's so exciting knowing next week there will be more weeks behind us then left to do. She did pretty well with lots of distraction today. She always HATES the smell of the alcohol-based cleaners they use to prepare her skin, so I let her sniff gum to make it a better experience. Courtney even joined us today so Brady could have a fun one-on-one time with Grandma at "This is the Place" and the Hoogle Zoo too! Courtney was the BEST baby and even slept for an hour of her appointment! Brady had the best time ever and has been telling me all about the pioneers and all he got to do. He even made me smell his face since they 'shaved' it for him. . .I'm sure my family will get a kick out of that. Thanks mom for EVERYTHING you do!

p.s. the ADORABLE hat was made by my Aunt Arlene. Thanks to her daughters and daughter in-laws (my cousins) too for the adorable hats and yummy freezer meals to have on hand. We have been showered with lots of LOVE and truly appreciate all the help we have been given. THANKS to all who have helped us!

No Chemo This Week . ..

2010-07-23T22:50:00.002-06:00

Lauren missed her chemo again this week (the 2nd time since starting) because her ANC only came up to 200. She gets her CBC drawn again next Tuesday to see if she can get her chemo on Wed. I think it should probably be closer to the goal of >1000. We'll have to wait and see.

2010-07-19T13:23:00.002-06:00

Well, I was trying to get dinner in the crockpot for tonight so I let Brady feed Courtney a couple bites of bananas and rice cereal. The kids are always asking to feed her and so it made everyone happy. I told him to give her small bites so she wouldn't make a mess. Here's what I saw when I was done. . .

Yikes!!!

2010-07-14T20:13:00.008-06:00

Lauren finished her 8th week of chemo today. . .only 10 more to go. It was a pretty traumatic appointment. She was bawling, screaming, and kicking so Brock and I had to hold her down so they could access her port, poor thing. I was super surprised her ANC dropped so dramatically, from 1900 last Wednesday to 100 today. Critically low again, bring on the masks and limited visitors :(

Her Hct is low but stable at 30%, platelets are normal, and her total WBC continues to be low. Hopefully her ANC will come up enough (has to be 1000) to get chemo next week, I hate to prolong it anymore then we have too! It's probably pretty unlikely it will rebound that quickly but we will see. The home health nurse will come draw her laws Tuesday to see if we need to go Wednesday for chemo or wait a few more days to check the ANC again.

Wahoo. . .She's 3!

2010-07-12T21:26:00.012-06:00

Lauren turned 3 today! She had a fun day helping mom make her cake. . .a princess barbie cake with a purple dress (one of her favorite colors!). We even got cheese pizza for dinner and mint ice cream (2 of her requests). She had a fun birthday party with her family and loved playing with her cousins. She got some neat princess toys, dishes, and jewelry, a few pairs of shoes (one of her favorite things, she ALWAYS want shoes on!), she got a dress up snow white dress the other day too and has been wearing it everyday since, a barbie baby doctor, finger paints, and a mini princess CD player. All in all it was a fun success. The kids were wiped out and fell asleep only after watching Lauren's new princess nightlight for about 10 minutes. . .super TIRED!

We had fun celebrating the 4th of July with a BBQ at Papa Greg's and Grandma Jenny' followed by a neat fire work show. The kids had fun. Brady helped get Papa the fireworks to light, but was so excited about that he missed watching some of them because he was too busy picking the next one out! Brock, Brady and I also went to out neighborhood breakfast for the first time. Brady walked (yes waled) his bike in the parade, but had a lot of fun.
We spent a couple evenings with Grandma Venita and family eating dinner and just spending time together (everyone was there but Elaina and family). I even got to eat a yummy breakfast at Ruth's with Allison, Curt (and my mom) before they left for a new adventure in Switzerland.

Because Lauren's ANC was so good, we decided to head to the Dino museum this past week (Brock has been wanting to go FOREVER!). It was fun to go on a little family outing together. The kids had fun, but were done after a few hours.

Week 7

2010-07-09T20:30:00.002-06:00

This weeks chemo appointment was the fastest yet! We were at the hospital for a short hour. Hopefully it will be this fast on the 1 drug days. Lauren is doing well and seems more energetic lately. Her ANC is a whopping 1900, Hct 30.8%, and Platelets 198,000. She is all set to celebrate her 3rd birthday this coming week. . . maybe then she will look closer to her age;)

June 2010

2010-07-02T10:07:00.010-06:00

It's been a busy couple of weeks. . . thus the long posting. I love pictures, so it makes it even longer.

Look who's 5!!! BRADY started the day out kind of rocky. . .he threw up a couple times, no rash, fever or anything else going on. He does this every once in a while out of the blue. The day was much better after that. I took him to a couple stores (might not sound super fun, but he loved just spending time with me for a few hours since I feel like I never spend much time with him lately). We made a dragon cake this year, turned out pretty good, but I was rushed at the end (the errands took longer then I thought). He got his first bike and some other fun stuff. Lauren and he actually used the slip n' slide for the first time yesterday. . .they had a blast!

Brady @ Camp Hobe. He had an amazing time! Thanks to Jamie for taking him the first day. It was a 2 day, day camp for kids with cancer and their siblings (Lauren wasn't old enough and her ANC was also too low to go. He had tons of fun swimming, crafting, and singing. He was definitely exhausted by the end of the day.

LAUREN'S ANC went up super fast, from 100 to 1400 this week (which meant she got both doses of chemo). She did well and actually slept most of the night after, which is a change. Her Hct went up as well, to 33% so we have avoided the transfusion!
Rachelle the Child Life Specialist helps Lauren play with her dolly at her clinic appointments.

Dr. Yaish her Oncologist

Eating lunch + chem in the infusion area.

Making orange faces (how I got her to eat when she was hospitalized)

Baldies. . . Papa Mark and Lauren

Coming home. She was super excited and started to run around. She looked better then she had the couple days before. The kids were excited to see her again too.

COURTNEY started to clap her hands and does it on cue now. She rolled over a couple times too. She still doesn't spend a whole lot of time on the floor (2 big kids running around. .. kinda scary). She is at a super fun stage, learning new things and making lots of noise.
We got to see Toy Story 3 with Hope kids. Cousin Riley got to go too! It was SO nice just to forget about life for a few hours and have family fun together.

Brady on the Slip n' Slide. He had tons of fun once he figured out how to slide down it.

Lauren mostly wanted to drink from it.

Courtney watching her crazy siblings get wet. She got sprayed a couple time, but didn't mind. it was a pretty hot day:)

No chemo this week. . .

2010-06-23T20:09:00.003-06:00

No chemo this week because Lauren's ANC is only 100. The preliminary report was 400, so her port was deaccessed and her IV antibiotics stopped. We'll have to wait until tomorrow AM to see if we need to do anything else, she looks great so I doubt we will have to restart the antibiotics but we'll find out. It would have been the 6th week of chemotherapy, I guess there's always next week;) Hopefully her ANC rises enough by then. On a positive note her abdominal ultrasound showed no residual cancer. Her spleen was a bit enlarged and her remaining kidney had grown some, so they will have to be followed with her regular ultrasounds. Tomorrow is Brady's birthday and he is super excited so more to come. . .

Home Again!

2010-06-18T23:35:00.003-06:00

Much to our surprise they let Lauren go home tonight! She has been fever free for 24 hrs now. Unfortunately I had to work tonight and so I only saw her for ~30 minutes before going back to PCMC. Home health came and taught Brock how to care for her port and give her meds late tonight. She has to continue her IV antibiotic 3x/day until her ANC is >500, so it could take a while, but time will tell. Lab draws on Mondays and Thursdays to assess her cell count to determine when we can stop the antibiotics and if she can get 1 of her chemotherapy drugs (she can still get the Vincristine every week because it is not count dependant, unless she develops a neuropathy in her hands/feet. . .but so far, so good). She will continue her Chemotherapy appointments Wednesdays and her Septra Mon/Tues for prophylaxis making it a busy week! I am anxious to have her 1st post-op/post-chemotherapy imaging this week. I think it will be good. . .no additional cancer/tumor or further organ involvement but can't wait to find out!

Yikes!

2010-06-17T22:28:00.006-06:00

Sheesh we can't seem to get enough of PCMC these days! Unfortunately Lauren came down with a fever late last night/early AM today and was admitted to the ICS Unit (Immunocompromised Services Unit) after another ER visit. It was of course crazy since I was working a night shift at LDSH and Brock was at home with all 3 kids. Fortunately my mom could come to the rescue at the wee morning hours (~2 AM). Almost no sleep last night and just an hour of catch up today = a couple exhausted people! Hopefully she will sleep tonight.

Well, she had a low grade fever (>100 <101) for an hour so of course we did the 'usual' and called the on-call oncologist which meant a trip to the ER and an admission due to the absence of neutrophils (ANC of 0). After a little trauma in the ER. . .4 pokes just to access her central line, she now thinks everyone who comes in the room is going to poke her (of course right after she finally is doing better with the accessing we have to have a traumatic experience. . .go figure). She has been sleepy on and off (her usual) but keeps having low-mid grade fevers which means we may be here for a little while. So far her cultures are negative (<24 hrs) and her appetite is improved. She gets IV antibiotics and may eventually go home on IV antibiotics once her ANC improves and she is fever free for 24-48 hrs, so who knows how long that will take. . .we are hoping for the weekend, but we will have to see how things go!

She feels good off and on, and managed to sleep for a chunk of time this afternoon which means she is having a hard time winding down tonight. Hopefully she will stop chatting and feel sleepy soon (but at least she is feeling better at the moment)!

Bring on the hats. . .and NO SICK people PLEASE!

2010-06-16T21:00:00.007-06:00

Well it's not as apparent in the pictures but Lauren has been losing her hair like crazy! Brock said she looked like Benjamin Button (AKA Brad Pitt) and she totally did. We finally gave in and convinced her to let us shave it off (of course to convince her I told her she could do it herself . . .with a little help;) Her face was like sure terror when she first saw her reflection in the mirror, but I told her she looked pretty ("pretty silly head" was her response after starring for a minute). She honestly looks better and less sickly with it shaved, plus now no more hair balls in the bed when she wakes up!

She finished her 5th dose/week of Chemo today. She has been such a trooper and is doing better taking her antibiotic and with the accessing of her port. She cried a little today, but overall did very good. I was however, shocked to see her ANC dropped to 0, YES ZERO! Now the scary, very immunosuppressed time starts. Hopefully no more fevers or sickness because that will buy her a 48-hour hospital stay minimum:( On a brighter note, her Hct didn't drop as much and is now 26.9% not yet the 25% needed to transfuse. She is still more tired then normal (unless she has visitors. . .she always has more spunk then), frequently asks to be held and lays down a lot (I'm sure a combination of the anemia and yucky chemo).

It was a day of Dr. visits today, not only for Lauren but well check ups for Brady and Courtney too! Well, Brady is still a big boy (no surprise). He weighed in at 48.5 pounds (90%tile) and 45 1/4 inches tall (91%tile). He has been at the top of the growth charts since he was 2 months old (Lauren was too for that matter). Brady was a champ at his shots. He only said "ouch" after them and then said "I was just kidding" because his Pediatrician was teasing him earlier when he checked his reflexes and he kept saying "ouch" then too teasingly.

Courtney is our only 'shorty' at 26.5 inches she is only 70 percentile (vs the usual 90%tile) and already 20 pounds 7 ounces (98%tile). . .almost ready to ditch the infant car seat and change to the convertible. She is dong really good sitting up by herself, but no rolling yet (that would require laying down more and with 2 other busy kids running around she doesn't get much of that). They both got a few less vaccines because of Lauren's immunosuppression. They will have to play catch up later this winter and get the other live attenuated ones.

Hair. . .hair. . .everywhere!

2010-06-10T10:43:00.004-06:00

Lauren has started to lose her hair the past few days, and now it's even noticeable! It feels like we have a dog. Anything and EVERYthing she is by/lays on gets hair on it. She doesn't seem too upset about it yet, since we have been talking about it for weeks. She knows her 'special medicine' makes her hair come out.

At her appointment yesterday, her Hct was down to 28%. Her oncologist thinks she will likely need a blood transfusion on her June 23rd appt. where she gets both drugs again AND an ultrasound, but we will have to see what her Hct is then. The ANC is now 700 by automated differential. . .the oncologist thinks this is actually higher, but we need to be cautious. They say once it's 500 she will need to wear masks, continue to avoid sick people, and stay at home as much as possible. It will be interesting to see if the ANC continues to decline.

We have actually been at Snowbird this week and just came down for chemo. It's been fun to be there with my family and just to get away from life and relax! Brady has been having a great time with Grandma Venita and his cousins.

Week 3

2010-06-03T13:24:00.009-06:00

Wednesday was Lauren's 3rd week of chemo. She did pretty well, except for the port accessing (she hates it!). She still doesn't have an appetite. The days are long, full of trying to get her to eat and drink something, and to take her medicine. Her cell counts are still dropping, the ANC is only 800 (500 is when they get really concerned) and Hct is now 30%, which makes her quite pale and a little tired too. She actually slept last night, which was nice for a change (Courtney did too!). The LOH test was negative! Now only 15 weeks of chemo left, assuming she won't have to have any postponed due to a low ANC.

I thought I better post some pictures too. . .

Brady and Courtney on her first real food day!

I took Lauren and Courtney to see the Cinderella ballet with Grandma Jenny. Cousin Hannah was one of the performers.

The family (Brady, dad, Courtney, mom, & Lauren-pre hair cut) at preschool graduation (no one really cooperated for the picture except me and Brock)

The graduating boy.

Courtney & Lauren-post hair cut (I have to admit I wanted to bawl when she got her hair cut. She did too, that night after she saw it for the 2nd time. It took me a little to get use to it, but now I like it. We did it so that it's not so drastic when it falls out. It has started to fall out a little this week, you can see the fine baby hairs on her shirt and mine when I hold her.

Brock & Grandma Jenny.

Grandma Venita and Courtney came too!

"Handsome man" (the little nickname I call Brady).

Week 2 + ER

2010-05-27T05:21:00.004-06:00

Well I keep thinking I need to update our blog for our other kids too. . .Courtney is 5 1/2 months old and is now liking food! She bawled the first time we tried to give her rice cereal. The kids want to feed her every time she eats, but she is still trying to figure it out.

Brady 'graduated' from preschool. It was actually pretty cute with his cap and walk with the graduation song. He is definitely having a harder time then the other kids right now, probably because he doesn't get quite as much attention lately which really throws him for a loop.

Lauren is still a trooper. She got her 2nd week of chemotherapy yesterday. She did well until around the time we were eating dinner. She was acting super tired and took 2 bites of dinner (her usual quota - 2 bites of food a meal since surgery). Brock sat by her on the couch and said she felt warm. Sure enough she had her first fever since starting chemo. I have to admit I took her temperature in both ears a few times. . .I didn't want to take her up and find out she really didn't have one. Well it was 102 degrees so I did what we are supposed to do and called the on call oncologist. She instructed me to head right to the ER for Lauren to be evaluated for a bacterial infection in her blood (since she has a central line). Sure enough her temperature was 38.9 Celsius when we got to the ER and she definitely started feeling sick while we were getting checked in and she was being assessed. She actually started to fall asleep during one of her assessments and looked pretty bad. She started looking better once her temp came down with Tylenol and after a few fluid boluses and a dose of Rocephin (an antibiotic for possible bacteremia that gets dosed every 24 hrs). Next step is to call the clinic this AM and see if we need to do anything else. They drew another CBC (complete blood count) and blood cultures. Her ANC went from 1500 pre chemo that day to 2700 with some immature white blood cells. She in anemic with thrombocytopenia, but those levels will continue to drop some as well as her WBC and ANC in the weeks to come. Who knows if it was stress from chemo that day vs an infection. By the time we got to go home she was feeling better and has actually slept all night! I never would have guessed we would have had her first ER trip by now, she has only had her port accessed 2 times before this visit. . .I had wishful thinking that we would get through all her treatments without a visit. Now I am sure this probably won't be the last.

1st chemo dose - check!

2010-05-19T19:40:00.006-06:00

Lauren had her 1st dose of chemotherapy today (Actinomycin-D). She goes in again tomorrow for a second chemo drug (Vincristine). So far, so good. It was a little traumatic for her to get her port-a-cath accessed, but she survived. We are going to try a numbing cream instead of numbing spray next time to see if this helps.

Her lab work was reassuring WBC 8,000 (normal 6,000-17,000) and ANC 1800 (normal 1500-5000). She also received an antiemetic that should work for 24 hours. We have Zofran for any breakthrough nausea as well and pain medication for pain control. She also got a fluid bolus because her appetite is still not back, and we are having a hard time getting her to drink anything! Now for the weekly regimen to begin. . .Septra twice a day Mon/Tues each week (an antibiotic for prophylaxis - to prevent pneumocystis pneumonia, a very dangerous form of pneumonia that children with cancer are at greater risk to develop) and chemotherapy each Wednesday.

She gets lab work each week before her chemo and also will get various tests (CXR, CT scans, and ultrasounds) throughout the course to check for any metastatic cancer.

Her final pathology report is back. She has nephroblastoma AKA Wilms tumor, favorable histology, stage 2 cancer. The next step is to determine if she has LOH (loss of heterozygosity - studies show that tumors with certain changes on chromosomes 1 or 16 seem to be more likely to reoccur after initial treatment). This test will be back in another 7-10 days. It will determine if she is treated for 25 weeks with an additional chemo drug vs the standard of care with 18 weeks of 2 chemo drugs. Only about 5% of Wilm's patients have this, so chances are good that her test will be negative.

She is a trooper and has done amazing. As long as she has some sort of Disney princess to play with all is well. We are just starting this long journey, but so far things have gone as well as can be expected. We are praying for continued success.

We Made It!

2010-05-11T17:23:00.009-06:00

Yay! We made it home this evening after a couple more pre-chemo tests (echocardiogram, EKG, and lab draws). Who would have known a week ago we would have been through so much. Lauren is doing great, still sore and a little fatigued, but doing AMAZINGLY well compared to what I was expecting. She is set to start her first dose of chemotherapy on Wed, may 19th (we should also have the official pathology report as well as the LOH testing back to see if she will need chemo for 25 weeks with 3 drugs vs the planned 19 weeks of therapy with 2 drugs). It now sounds like her cancer may be a stage 1-2 since the pathology is reassuring and so far they haven't seen the tumor penetrate the renal capsule (there is still a questionable area they will be looking at. . .they had to plate well over a dozen slides to study, a more involved process then I pictured).

Hopefully she will not have too many side effects of the chemo and will tolerate the therapy as well as she can. We will go weekly for the whole course outpatient, which we are glad for. She will have weekly lab draws to assess her cell count among other things and various ultrasounds and xrays too. I was also shocked by the follow up care she will need after her chemo is completed. . .she will be seen monthly for the first year, every 2 months for the 2nd year, every 3 months for the 3rd year. . .and be followed for about 8 years after her diagnosis/treatment. It is a much longer, more involved process then I had imagined, but we are definitely taking it one step at a time.

Now to have a week of normalcy at home (at least as normal as it can be) before therapy begins.

Preliminary Report

2010-05-11T08:56:00.003-06:00

Still waiting. . .but the unofficial pathology report is reassuring, it doesn't look like it's in the lymph nodes. From a surgery standpoint she is doing amazing and is ready to go home, unfortunately we are waiting to hear from the Oncologist to see if we are starting chemo right away or if we get to go home for a couple days. . .we'll see sometime this morning.

She's BACK!

2010-05-10T12:17:00.003-06:00

Lauren is back to her 2-year old self. . .(attitude and all) which we are grateful for. She is up and about and doing really well. She got her epidural out this morning and is now getting her pain meds by mouth. No more lines and tubes excpet for an IV for any breakthrough pain and monitoring cables. She is eating a little better and even had some gas today (who knew that would be such a cool thing!). We are still waiting to see what is in store for us next. Thanks for all the continued care and concern.

Moving and Eating

2010-05-08T21:41:00.003-06:00

Lauren is doing amazing today! She actually stood up AND walked! She is a little shaky and needs help (although she doesn't think she does). Now she is allowed to eat as tolerates, no more 1/2 Popsicle every 3-4 hours which makes her happy. Her appetite isn't like it was yet, but I'm sure it will improve. No vomiting, which is nice, now to getting things moving. She said her tummy rumbled tonight, so maybe her gut is starting to work. Now if we only new the results of her pathology. . .Wednesday seems so far away!

Poor Lauren. . .

2010-05-05T05:08:00.001-06:00

As most of you know out lives were changed forever yesterday. Lauren was just diagnosed with cancer. She had been complaining intermittently about a tummy ache but just had her well-child visit about 3-4 weeks ago, so I decided to palpate her stomach and I discovered a mass. I took her in to the Pediatrician and after his exam and an xray of her abdomen we were sent up to Primary Children's for what I feared, but knew was likely the case. She had some additional tests; an Ultrasound and CT of her chest, abdomen and pelvis to look for metastases. It has been a very quick, overwhelming experience, but we are blessed to have such an amazing hospital so close to out home. We are unsure the exact type of cancer she has, other then it appears to originate in her kidney; likely a very large Wilm's tumor with lymph enlargement - our hope is for Wilm's at this time over the other types of cancer they are considering since it has a higher cure rate/better prognosis then the others. She is having more testing done first thing this morning followed by surgery to remove the mass, her L kidney, ureter, and possibly her adrenal gland, and placement of a porta cath for chemotherapy. We just pray that they are able to proceed with surgery and remove all they need to today, since the mass is quite large (10 x 12 cm) and very close to important blood vessels and organs. I just thought you all might want to know what was going on. We will be at the hospital all day most likely and at least 5-6 days after her surgery just recovering. Chemotherapy generally start a week after surgery and can go on for about 18 weeks in most cases but we won't know what comes next, until after her surgery, since staging of her cancer takes place then. Since my mom is helping watch Brady and Courtney today, we will be touching base with her letting her know the updates as we can.

Dentist AND MORE!

2010-03-24T14:51:00.005-06:00

One of the BEST Dentists ever! Greg fixed Lauren's chipped tooth today. We had an appointment for Brady to get a couple sealants, but actually ended up with a little decay. 2 rubber dams (1 on each side) with just a dab of numbing ointment. He did an amazing job! Brady held still and did so good. Lauren (who I could barely convince to get a cleaning for the first time last visit) wanted a turn too, so Greg fixed her tooth. I am SO happy! I think it looks amazing.

So like usual I lumped a ton of stuff in this blog post. . .

Brady's experiment pictures (and these we before I noticed the egg drenched toilet paper hanging from the closet door and high up on the walls, and also the apple cut with a plastic knife all over the other end of the bed). I couldn't get mad since it was my fault for taking a much needed nap.

St. Patrick's Day. . .for breakfast green pancakes (didn't have time to make the green eggs before preschool). Dinner was green mashed potatoes, green beans, and fish (well, we couldn't eat ALL green stuff:)

Courtney eating Brady's hand. It was SO cute and made my morning to see. Brady is such a light sleeper, so comes upstairs the moment one of us is getting ready for work. We all fell asleep for about another 30+ min before Lauren was awake too. Every couple minutes Courtney would turn towards his and hold his arm and trying to suck on his hand and he didn't even budge!The hat my sister Elaina made. . .LOVE it! Courtney being a big girl. She has changed SO much in just the past couple weeks, and of course she is growing like a weed!

Courtney is 3 months!

2010-03-10T17:16:00.005-07:00

I went to JC Penny's today for Courtney's 3 month photos. . .I can't believe how good they turned out! She was SO good, until the very end. Lauren kept saying she needed to go potty (I thought it was just an excuse to go, thankfully no accidents). Brady was at preschool. It was a crazy morning, and I barely made it to preschool to pick him up. . .just a couple minutes late. I am making a pettiskirt, but bought the wrong kind of chiffon so the ends fray like crazy, I was planning on making it for the pic. I worked on it until about 1:30 am only finishing 1/4 of the skirt and gave up. Thank goodness for the dress up tutu I bought Lauren for her birthday last year, add a huge flower (that ones for you Greg;) that I made this morning and voila!

New Dresses and more. . .

2010-02-28T15:30:00.006-07:00

I was so excited to make matching dresses for the girls (now that there are 2 of them!). I think they turned out pretty good. . .but I still need to work on zippers, the top part looks good, but I have trouble at the end of the zipper where the toggle is when it's open. Hopefully I will find out the trick to make it even look better! I was a little self conscious of them since I made them, but they wore them to church today and a couple people told me they thought they were cute, so that made me feel better about them. Now to find something boy-like to make for Brady. He always wants to know what I am making and is a little disappointed when he finds out it's usually something for a girl. Any ideas?Well, Courtney is taking after Lauren when she was a baby with her every ~5 day poop! I always dread when the day comes because it's a complete blow out! Disgusting, I know, and always a big mess to clean up. I don't know how she does it, but it always goes up the front of her. I rarely see her when she is doing it, so am always surprised by the smell once I pick her up and unwrap the lovely surprise. Hopefully the next blow out comes today since Grandma Jenny is watching her tomorrow for my first day back at work, and I know how much of a mess it is to clean up.

Before. . .After. . .

And one more thing. . .

Our neighbors have a wood deck and rats live under it (I know, completely disgusting, right?). Well they put a rat pellet out last year to kill them but the pellet was totally in reach of the kids (right under the fence line). SCARY! So my brother Greg and Brock got a trap and set it up a couple weeks ago. This week I looked in it and saw the door was closed. It totally disgusted me, I couldn't even believe it, and I hate even talking about it because I think it's SO gross. They kids were excited to see it. I guess it's better to have caught it then have it roaming around. Hopefully we won't catch too many, I would love to think there are no more . . .but I am sure where there's one there's more! YUCK!

Bunk Beds

2010-02-11T10:56:00.003-07:00

I LOVE love LOVE these beds! My dad made them. It's actually the same bed I had when I was growing up. The kids were super excited too! Now to see how they sleep together. . .

Courtney's Baby Blessing

2010-02-09T03:57:00.009-07:00

Brock gave Courtney a beautiful Baby Blessing this past Sunday. After the blessing we headed over to my mom's house to each the yummy brunch I prepared. The food turned out pretty good which was nice since I hadn't ever made the recipes before. It was so fun to have such a large group of friends and family . . .about 40 people came (kids included). We truly appreciated the support and missed those who weren't able to make it.

First Homework Assignment

2010-01-28T13:10:00.005-07:00

Brady's 1st homework assignment was to make a poster about himself entitled "Brady is special) for preschool. He cut all the words and pictures out by himself (not the photos though) and glued them to the poster. I think it turned out pretty nice, and judging by some of the other kids posters I am proud I let my child do there own with as little help as possible. I don't think we are ready to have homework, but it will be interesting to see how it goes once he starts Elementary School!

Bath Time

2010-01-28T11:18:00.003-07:00

Brady and Lauren got to have a big bubble bath in our jetted tub upstairs. They had tons of fun and Courtney even joined them for a minute. She loved it too!

Happy New Year!

2010-01-04T12:23:00.007-07:00

We had a wonderful Christmas spending lots of time with family. We had the traditional Nativity at my mom's house the Sunday before Christmas, a delicious prime rib dinner Christmas Eve @ my mom's, Jenny McMuffins Christmas morning, Santa visits, cookie making, and snow playing.

Santa brought them a kitchen with some pretend food, Lauren got dress up clothes and a new outfit, Brady a marble track and clothes. They got some fun gifts from the grandparents too! Lauren got her 2nd barbie doll and barbie movie, more dress up stuff (one of her favorite things), Brady got walkie talkies, a batman action figure, new tool belt and toy tools, plus a big remote truck. It was so fun seeing the excitement in their eyes! They loved everything!

New Years Eve we had my mom over for a delicious crab and steak dinner, with sweet potatoes and mushrooms. Brock and I rang in the New Year taking care of Brady and Courtney. Just after midnight Brady came upstairs sick and continued throwing up for the next couple hours while Courtney did her usual nightly routine. .. crying and needing her pacifier, patting and holding her (I think Brock got the best deal on this one:).

Courtney is a month old now which is hard to believe! She is getting so big already. Time goes by SO fast, and the kids seem to change quickly.

We are hoping for a wonderful New Year, watching our kids grow and learn. Brady will start kindergarten in the fall and Lauren will start Preschool (just to name a few exciting things)!

SHE'S here!

2009-12-07T17:03:00.013-07:00

Courtney Bryant was born December 3 @ 4:50 AM. She came before I was to call the hospital @ 6:00 AM to go get induced (hopefully, unless lots of mom's were there in labor). It was such a surprise to go into labor on my own (the first time!), it was super quick, and it was a girl. I was in definite shock.

My water had a slow leak @ 1:00 AM. . .so slow I wasn't sure if it was lack of bladder control since it was a small drop or 2. Then nothing happened until I started having contractions @ 2:00 AM and man they hurt! Every 5 minutes for the first 20-30 min then every 3 min so I called my mom. She came over and we got to the hospital around 3:15 AM.

After waiting for another mom to check in (who didn't even appear to be in any distress/pain. . .I couldn't even sit down on the bench because my contractions were even more painful and frequent and they brought me to tears). I got to my room by about 3:35 AM. Once the nurse checked me she was super surprised I was as far along as I was. I was 8+ dilated and fully effaced, my water had "broken" but only a small leak, thus a bulging bag with the head right there. She called for another nurse to help out since things were obviously progressing quickly. I even had time for an epidural (thankfully) which made the last 30+ min of labor/delivery more enjoyable. Then my Dr. came in and the rest is history!

Brock was the one who got to announce the sex, and man I was super excited and surprised. She weighed 8 lbs (right in the middle of Brady and Lauren's weight) and was 20 inches long. She came out screaming and is doing great other then the little mix up between days and nights and she sure is a little spitty.

Courtney is the best sleeping newborn during the day, but loves to cry usually hourly all night long (did I mention she is spitty/refluxing), and eat every 2 1/2 to 3 hrs at night! She is even awake for a stretch of time each night. I guess we have only been home for 2 nights now, so here's hoping the nights get better. . .soon??? I guess I forgot how it is to have a newborn again. I have been trying to get her to eat more often during the day, but she is a sound sleeper (like her dad) and really hard to wake up.

Because of the flu concerns this season, the kids couldn't come up to the hospital. Thanks to my mom and Brock's mom for watching them. Brock took a small video of their first meeting. I was so fun to see their reactions. They were both chomping at the bit to hold her. . .and that's still the case.

We all love Courtney to pieces and are so excited she made a safe arrival to our family.

Almost there. . .

2009-11-19T19:42:00.003-07:00

Not much time left. . .I had my check up today and things are going good. I am already 2+ dilated and 70% effaced. . .ahead of schedule according to my doctor, and he could feel the head too! It could happen at anytime, but I still think the baby will come when I am induced in 2 weeks. . .I guess time will tell! I am super excited and can't wait to bend again. I think you must forget how such a simple task can be so difficult.

Update overload. . .Happy Halloween & lots more! (see below)

2009-11-01T11:38:00.008-07:00

We had a fun night carving pumpkins, making homemade pizza's, trick or treating, and then sipping hot cider afterwards. Becah, Marc, and Riley came over for the fun festivities too. It was a busy night, but super fun:)

Preschool. . .Finally!

2009-11-01T11:29:00.003-07:00

Brady started preschool @ the East High School Little Leopards Preschool this year. 1 week down, but I am really impressed with it. It is such a good deal too. We only had to get on the waiting list 2+ years in advance. He is so excited to go everyday and has a ton of fun. The kids are outnumbered by the 'teachers' so there is a lot of attention which is good for him. He painted a pumpkin, made a trick or treating bag, and went trick or treating just to name a few of the activities this week!

FHE

2009-11-01T11:21:00.005-07:00

We made zombie eyeballs and spider cookies for our Halloween treat this year. Brady and Lauren made some cute cards and we delivered them to some of our family. They turned out pretty cute. Brady is learning to write a couple letters (M, B, O, and X) so it was fun to see him write them for the first time!

Sewing

2009-11-01T10:34:00.005-07:00

I love having a sewing machine! I found a dress pattern on the Internet for free http://madebyrae.blogspot.com/ and made one for Lauren. I think it turned out pretty good for one of my first attempts. . .

Double Trouble

2009-10-22T22:54:00.005-06:00

Here's what happens when you leave 2 little ones alone with scissors out on the desk. . .

I was so excited because I just bought my very first sewing machine for my upcoming birthday and I made a gift for my sister and one for myself (I'll have to post pics of them later, since I don't want to ruin the surprise). I called my mom up because I was so excited with how they turned out, while I was boiling some pasta for dinner. Not more then 10 minutes alone and I came downstairs to find Lauren's new shirt (worn only once) missing most of one arm and a piece off the other, a slit in her sweater, and a small chunk of hair missing. Brady had so much fun earlier while a sewed a little, by cutting the scraps of material I guess he thought he would cut some more. . .and Lauren cut her hair, thankfully it's hardly noticeable since it blends in on the side. Needless to say the scissors are in a high, out of sight place now!

Sneak Peak. . .

2009-10-11T21:50:00.007-06:00

We had a fun Halloween dinner/party @ Grandma Jenny and Papa Greg's house tonight. Here's a sneak peak at Halloween costumes. Lauren of course is a princess, and she would wear the dress everyday, all day (if I only let her). You can't really see her crown because it sits too far back. . .I'll have to work on this Halloween. Brady is a firefighter and likes to tell you what they do. He had to wear the costume daily for the first week after we bought it. . .but then it lost the novelty. Riley was an adorable lion, Nick managed to put his tiger top on, and Avery was Wilma from the Flinstones (sad to say. . .probably her last year dressing up).

Soccer

2009-10-07T16:26:00.009-06:00

Brady has been playing soccer for a couple weeks. . .or at least he is on a soccer team ;) It is pretty cute when he decides he will chase after the ball. It was an awesome deal, and it's good to have something for him to do while we wait for preschool to start at the end of this month.

Yay! It finally worked. . .pictures for the previous blog (see below)

2009-09-11T13:07:00.004-06:00

Swimming & Grandma Jackie's 75th Surprise B-day Party

2009-09-05T13:56:00.003-06:00

Well after some miscommunication, we are the only ones who came to swim. Who new this even existed just right down the street? It's a pretty cool pool, but really hot and smelly (chlorine). Lauren was SO daring, she usually doesn't even want to get in. She went in pretty far, which made me a little nervous since I wasn't dressed to swim (because I thought EVERYONE was going to be there;). Brady booked it to the slide one time and gave me a good scare. Luckily he didn't dare go down (it's a little deep where it comes out, and Lauren was in the water on the other end. . .needless to say, I was glad to leave). They had tons of fun though.

Grandma Jackie was completely surprised (good one Jenny)! It was a fun night seeing everyone from out of state, some of which I hadn't met in person before. Brady had fun playing with Taggart, they would be best buds. . .if only they lived local.

Trial Lake

2009-08-04T17:28:00.005-06:00

I love going to Trial Lake every year. It is so nice and cool, relaxing, and fun (minus all the dirt and no shower, oh and the pit toilet. . .speaking of that Brady was deathly afraid at the beginning and didn't want to go #2 on the toilet, but needles to say when you have to go you have to go. No fun to clean up. Thankfully he got interested in how it worked and how it gets emptied. . .you know how inquisitive he is). Lauren loved throwing rocks and dirt, we just encouraged her to throw it into the lake. Brady had fun playing with his cousins and fishing. He caught dinner for us, and he even eat some of it!

Lauren's Birthday +

2009-07-21T15:43:00.008-06:00

It's of course been a busy month. . .when is there ever a dull moment? I worked the 4th of July, went to a fun BBQ @ my mom's after, then fireworks @ Nick's house.

I thought I would try curlers in Lauren's hair. She has the most fine hair, plus no patience to wait until it was thoroughly dried. . .but it was still fun! Notice the nice blister, just ask Lauren. She shows everyone her "owie" everywhere we go. It was a pretty bad burn from touching the extremely hot muffler after doing many errands (OUCH!). And we had to snap a pic of Lauren falling asleep eating dinner one Sunday after church. She is the first of our kids to do that. It was hilarious. Brock even did a little video of it.

Lauren turned 2 last week and got a butterfly cake. It was harder to do something 'girly' but it looked decent. It was so fun to get her something girly to play with. She didn't really have much. She had a blast and especially loves all the fun stuff. Thanks to all our family that came and made the potluck BBQ a success!

And finally the biggest thing this week is we bought a minivan. . .the official mommy car. . .stormin' Mormon. . .you get the picture. I actually quite love it (afer 1 day) it has a tons more room then our Subaru. Now to just sell the Met.

Brady's Birthday!

2009-07-08T21:05:00.007-06:00

Thought I better get around to blogging Brady's 4th birthday before Lauren's comes this weekend. Brady wanted a Wall-E cake, but after lots of looking I came across a robot cake (close enough for him). It turned out pretty good and Brady had fun making a mini-robot with the leftover cake pieces. We went low key with just a family cake and ice cream party. He had tons of fun, and got some neat gifts. Thanks to everyone for making it such a fun birthday!

California Vacation!

2009-06-24T21:17:00.013-06:00

We had a wonderful time in California visiting Brock's cousin Aimee, Jason and their cute kids. It was a rocky start. First we cut it short getting to the airport (Brock had to go to the store to get a few last minute items for him), but luckily we still made it in time. Our flight was a little delayed, so by the time we got to the house it was past bed time. The kids were so excited they wouldn't go to bed. Finally I decided I would just go to bed so they would stay. While I was brushing my teeth Lauren (I'm sure with a little help from her big bro) got into the suitcase, found my ziplock of toiletries and my pill box. She ate 1 1/2 of my prenatal vitamins. I don't know why she would have even tried another after the first one, they are so disgusting just to swallow let alone chew them up. Anyways, I thought she would probably be ok but was still a little worried. I called Jenny, but no answer, so I called my friend Lisa who suggested calling poison control (duh, I didn't even think of that. . .luckily I do have it programmed in our cell phones in case of emergency). I forgot about the time change (sorry guys for calling just before 11 PM). They told me the iron content she took for her weight was not too concerning but told me to watch for vomiting or diarrhea and to call if she had a problem. Well, about 4 AM she threw up all over me, her, and the bed! Boy was it was disgusting! Brock was sick too, mild flu-like symptoms, so he had gone out to sleep on the couch an hour earlier. I cleaned everything up called poison control and tried to sleep again. Needless to say none of us got much sleep so our plans for SeaWorld the next day were postponed and we just hung around the house and rested.

Friday we went to SeaWorld and had a blast! They loved most of the shows, definitely the animals, and Brady liked the rides and playing in the water (Lauren of course wanted to go on the ride, but freaks out mid-ride). The 4-D movie was especially entertaining for Brady. They both loved petting the Bat Rays, and Lauren got soaked when 1 came up to the top of the aquarium and slashed it's arms.

We spent a couple days at the beach. The first was a little cold and rainy. Lauren wasn't sure about all the water, but loved the sand. Brady loved the water, but hated the sand on him when he was done. I should have taped him walking away with his arms straight out, fingers splayed, legs straight. It took him forever to walk to the car! Lauren unfortunately got sick on the ride home and threw up all over her and the car seat. Twice in 1 week, no fun. The next time we went to the beach it was warm, sunny, with a light breeze. The water was fun and the kids loved it!

Our trip ended by going to the 'bucket park.' Where some of us got a little too much sun. Brady loved playing with Taggart and Lauren just chilled on the beach chairs and actually took a nap. Then off to the airport for the trip home. While we were waiting for our flight Lauren started developing what looked like a little red rash on her forehead, but by the time we got to my mom's car she was covered in hives. Her eyes were almost swollen shut, even her forehead was swollen. Kidscare was closed unfortunately since it was just before 11 PM, and we decided to just watch her and wait it out since she wasn't having any breathing difficulty. I gave her some Benadryl, that helped a little, and the hives are now slowly disappearing.

It was a fun trip, full of activities, delicious food, and good company. Thanks Donohue's!

Last Day of Preschool

2009-06-02T14:43:00.005-06:00

His last day of preschool was this past month (May 21, our 8th wedding anniversary too!). So we met at the park by Ms. Wendy's house. The kids had fun with the parachute and eating Popsicles. Then they got there 'yearbook' from Ms. Wendy. We love her! She was such an awesome teacher, and will miss her next year. Brady still asks almost everyday if it's time to go to school. I feel like a broken record. . .after Summer is over you get to go to school again, but without fail a couple days later "is it school time?" He's very persistent.

Mother's Day Program

2009-06-02T14:38:00.006-06:00

Brady had his typical preschool program, where he rarely (if ever) sings with the other kids. He got upset before it started so it took almost the whole short program to even convince him to go back up. I still think he looks cute. . .now if he would only sing the whole time:)

H2O Fun!

2009-05-02T10:21:00.003-06:00

I finally opened the water ball I bought Brady when he turned 2. . .the kids had SO much fun with it. I'm sure they will have a blast with it this summer. The first day they wore there skivvies. The next day it took us all day to find swimming suits for them so they went out at ~5 pm (brrrrr. . .but I promised they could go out). They had fun, even though it was chilly. Here's hoping for some warm, sunny days in the near future.

Easter +

2009-04-22T17:22:00.011-06:00

As usual, it's a long post. . .lots of little things, and several pictures! Brady had his Easter program @ Ms. Wendy's. Mom, Dad, Lauren, and even Grandma were able to come! Brady mostly starred at everyone, and participated when the teacher reminded him. He kind of sat in a weird place on the end facing the parents rather then straight ahead.Next we dyed Easter eggs and Papa Mark and Ya Ya happened to come over. It was our first year dying eggs. The kids had fun and it wasn't too messy.Easter morning Brady woke up and asked if the Easter bunny came in his bunny car. I thought it was pretty cute. They had a fun Easter morning before church, then we headed out to Grandma Jenny and Papa Greg's house for more Easter fun and a delicious dinner. They collected Easter eggs and even flew a kite! It was such a nice day.

Well, here's to hopefully posting a little at a time (rather then all at once!).

Bowling!

2009-04-11T12:41:00.003-06:00

We finally went bowling. . .I have wanted to go for weeks. The kids had fun. Lauren was more excited about the ramp and the people who worked there. Whenever she did bowl, she always started to walk away before the ball hit the pins. On the other hand, Brady wanted every turn to be his! It was fun to get away and do something other then the ordinary, mundane, everyday things.

The Daily Happenings

2009-03-06T10:23:00.007-07:00

Yeah! My headaches are gone after a month of physical therapy. I am so amazed at how well it worked. Well, I still keep finding projects to do. . .here are the mid and after pictures (I always forget to take before pics). I finished the surround sound wiring and patching of holes. It was not too fun, especially with 2 little "helpers" running around but I love the finished project. In -ceiling speakers are SO neat! They really are hardly noticeable. . .
o.k. it's kind of hard to see because the flash made extra circles on the wall, but there were 7 holes at the top of the walls from adding an extra speaker and moving 2 existing lines (they were put in strange places when we got them wired before the sheetrock).
This was after playing in all the packing material for the subwoofer speaker. . .two little cuties!

In the midst of playing with the packing peanuts. . .fun, but definitely messy!

Earlier this year I was trying to get a couple things done, and here is what happens when you leave 2 little ones alone for only a few minutes! Needless to say, another bath that day and cleaning of the carpet. It definitely took more time to clean up then I actually got accomplished by leaving them for those few minutes :o

Lauren with her first pigtails! She has had many more since then. Love the family resemblance?

Valentines day @ Ms. Wendy's. Brady could hardly wait to see his valentines!

Migraines

2009-01-21T17:26:00.002-07:00

Well, it wasn't a very fun start to the year. A trip to the ER for a lumbar puncture and CT of my brain. . .and I was diagnosed with migraines, no fun! I never knew they could be quite so brutal and last for so long. I haven't been able to shake my headaches ever since, but thankfully they aren't all migraines. I just can't wait until they go away all together, it's getting pretty old. My neck has been bothering me ever since so I start physical therapy next week, so here's hoping my headaches will end. . .one day?

ChRIsTmaS TiMe

2008-12-29T09:33:00.013-07:00

I love this season! We had a fun, snowy Christmas @ Jenny and Greg's. Yummy Jenny McMuffins and wonderful handmade gifts. The kids were excited, especially Brady. Every time we baked stuff this month he would ask if it was for Santa. Then we stopped @ my mom's for a minute, the kids were excited to see her and we watched a movie. It was a busy day, but fun. We did a live nativity @ my mom's house. It was cute, but the kids are still a little young and don't really know what to do. Lauren was the star, it was so cute to see her pace around everywhere. Brady was a wiseman, and he was excited for his part to be read.

Brady had his preschool program this month and it was adorable! I just love watching him sing and try to do the actions. Lauren was excited to see him too, but first she needed a couple pics. . .PLEASE. . . CHEESE! (2 of her fav phrases).Lauren was so excited to see Santa she could hardly wait to sit on his lap. . .but she instantly realized it wasn't as cool as she thought:O Wow. . .her first and only episode of stranger danger.

They got to see Santa 3 times in 1 week! Brady could hardly wait to have his name called each time.

Lauren definitely kept her distance on the 3rd Santa encounter. She was SO stiff, and you couldn't even budge her forward.

Bring on the Festivities!

2008-12-05T16:33:00.005-07:00

Well the Christmas festivities have begun! Grandma went with us to the Festival of Trees. Brady loved the bubble maker and fishing pond. We bought some delicious goodies and saw tons of beautiful trees and amazing gingerbread houses. I also went to the yearly cookie party with Lisa and Trisha. It was fun as usual, with yummy cookies, food, and visiting.

Thanksgiving Feast

2008-12-05T16:19:00.003-07:00

We had Thanksgiving dinner @ my mom's this year, it was delish! Here are the kids at the 'kiddie table.' I am glad we got to sit with the grown ups! After dinner we goofed around and played Rock Band on XBOX. It was harder then it looked, but fun!

YEAH! Finally. . .

2008-11-28T20:50:00.014-07:00

I am SO glad I FINALLY got the pictures to download to my blog! I would update this thing more often if I could get the pictures to load. Well, I know November is almost over. . .so here are the pictures from October, I know SLACKER, right?

Pumpkin Patch with mom. Grandma Jenny, cousin Nick, and Aunt Becky came too! Riding in the wheelbarrow on the way to pick pumpkins with cousin Nick. They looked too cute together, and what a fun way to travel.

Lauren's pumpkin.

Brady on the tractor. I noticed the sign after Aunt Becky put him on the tractor "keep off tractor." Well, it's a cute picture anyways, and no harm done.

Brady having fun, and Lauren with her perplexed look. She is SO expressive!

Pumpkin carving @ Grandma Jenny and Papa Greg's house.

Staples to the head after hitting it on the corner of the coffee table. He was such a brave, inquisitive boy thru the whole ordeal.

Brady and mom carved the pumpkins this year. Notice the nice bruise on his forehead from sliding head first off the ottoman, of course he did this the morning after his staples. His first Halloween program was so cute! He was exhausted though, notice the look. Brady was one of 3 Spinderman's in his class! Okay, not an original costume, but he LOVES Spiderman.

Making yummy cookies with mom. Notice Brady's scary face. I had to take his picture a couple times, he thought it was such a cool expression. Boo @ the Zoo. . .what a literal zoo! It was SO crowded. The kids had fun though, and enjoyed the few pieces of candy they got.

Petting zoo @ Gardiner Village. They loved it!

More @ Gardiner Village with a group of neighborhood friends.

Brock and kids @ the chili fest/trunk-or-treating ward party.Donut-on-a-string eating contest. Brady actually did pretty good. He was a little slow, but it stayed on the string the whole time (no hands).

Costume time. All the cousins wore their costumes so Grandma Jenny and Papa Greg could see them. Aren't they adorable?

We spent Halloween night @ Grandma Jenny and Papa Greg's house for some good eats and trick-or-treats!

Trick or Treating with Cousin Riley, notice the "cheese" grin on Lauren.

Lauren had to make a "hat" after she saw Brady put the basket on his head (notice the post before this one). Too bad it was full of peach juice! She has made quite a habit of making bowls and plates her hat, no fun for me and Brock.

Brady loves to empty all the baskets with books, diapers and toys into Lauren's bed when she wakes up from her nap.

The one photo from November! Aren't kids so fun? It's amazing how much of a mess they can make in a matter of seconds. Cheerios EVERYWHERE! You just have to laugh sometimes, like the time I was making Thanksgiving pies a few days ago and gave Lauren and Brady some of the leftover banana cream; they painted the table and their arms and legs with it. Little stinkers. . .