Welcome our newst family member

My sisters cat had kittens. I saw the pics and KNEW we had to have the orange tabby!!!! So here he is our new bundle of joy. Prince Caspian.

Our new toy

So Joe couldn't stand it ANY MORE. With the fact of my arm not being the best this year our hopes of lots of camping this summer were drowned.. So went and got the family a new toy!Even though I can't ride it, it will still make for great days this summer as a family.

Special Concert and School Carnival

I had one of those weird "old mom" moments this last week. When I was 15 my stake had a youth conference. We called it Yagottawanna. It was an AWESOME weekend filled with talent shows, concerts, activities, movies, picnics, water fights, firesides, guest appearances and a HUGE dance at the end . It was one of the best experiences from when I was a youth.

One of our special guests was Steve James. He know writes all the music for the school safety program in Utah and other states I think. He came and did a special concert at my kids school!

It was so surreal seeing him and hearing him again. I went up and talked to him and he remembers very well that weekend in Hillsboro, Or. The concert was great!
























After the concert the school had a HUGE fund raiser carnival. He kids had a blast! The kids got to dunk the principal! It was a great carnival!





I am SOOOO glad I live in an area where I can trust all the people around me so that my older ones could run off with their friends. I had to take them by myself and with one arm it proved quite a challenge to keep everything under control. We all made it home in one piece.

Happy Birthday Taylor!!!

Today Taylor is 9 years old. I can't believe how fast time has gone!

Tay has grown and developed her own personality it wasn't until I went through pictures that I realized how she has had it all along. She is our actress. She has always loved to dress up and be in the spot light. It was such a thrill to see her up on stage last winter. She was amazing! We hope she will continue if this is what she wants to do. Here is a picture montage documenting Tay's life.

Taylor I am so proud of you! You have had more struggles and hardships in your short life then anyone should have to deal with. Yet you have remained strong and loving. You are a joy to our family and even though we weren't expecting you quite so soon we are SO glad you are here. You are turning into a remarkable young lady. We love you!

I was putting together some pictures for a family thing and I made this one. I LOVE it!

Grand Opening!!!!

Yesterday was the grand opening of the new Wal-mart by my house!!! I can now WALK to do my grocery shopping as soon as I can pull the wagon....

We had a great time looking at the new store and the kids had a blast with all the fun activities they had going on.

There was free ice cream and hot dogs. A air chamber the kids got to go in and catch coupons ect...

Free tattoos and tons of businesses offering free samples. Free balloons.

The Oscar Meier Weiner Mobile was there.

We had a good day. We bought a new bbq grill!!! Just in time for all the big b-day parties this summer!

Aunt Becky and Uncle Jake Visit

My sister and her husband came to visit us and my kids. Mostly my kids. We had a great time.

They took Brynn and Ryan while the sisters came and made meals. They took them to run errands and then to lunch. I will get pics from them. Then That night the four of us took Katya and Taylor to see the Indianapolis Jones play at the OBT. We all LOVED it!!!! It was still funny the 3rd time!!!

Tuesday we just hung around the house and then went to lunch at the Cheesecake Factory! YUM!!!!!!

Today we went to the grand opening of the new Wal-mart by my house!!! We had a great time. After Jake showed us what happens to Coke when you add Mentos.

The Best Friends (Ward) EVER!!!!!!

As of yesterday I am 2 weeks post op from my shoulder surgery. I have mobility if my fingers but any other arm movements send me through the roof in pain. Fortunately that means I can type but basically nothing else in the house. Although most days it drives me up the wall not being able to function normally it has been nice to read and relax and watch movies oh since January.

ANYWAY................ Off the subject. I went to see my doctor last week and was told I will stay just like this. No physical therapy and in the sling for another month. No driving, cleaning, ect.... So I had this brilliant idea! Since to cook decent meals means using both arms or asking Joe to do it I called our compassionate service leader and told her the situation. I really didn't want the sisters bringing in meals for a whole other month+ so I asked her to gather a small group to come to my house Monday morning to make freezer meals! Aren't I a genius?! I had 6 women come to may house and they made 20 meals in 2.5 hours!!!!











I am forever grateful. I can't even begin to express how much that act of kindness meant to me. It has given me more of a feeling of independence. It has helped to make the light at the end of this tunnel a little brighter.

Thank you Kaelynn, Hilary, Tina, Nina, Lanae and Dawn for the super fun day!

Katya's New Look!

A few weeks ago we realized that Katya couldn't read the numbers for the hymns at the front of the chapel. So we started experimenting to see what she could and couldn't see. Nothing far away was the verdict.

Last week Joe took her to get her eyes examined. Today they went and picked them up. She looks so good in them. looks older I think. She is very excited for them. We have tried to make this as positive as we can since she does have the tendency to freak out.

She got to pick out a cool case for them as well!

Happy Mother's Day!

We had a pretty quiet morning today. Church is at 9 WAY too early for Joe to be able to get me and 4 kids ready on time. I can't shower and dress on my own and apparently neither can my kids.

ALSO I was up ALL night til 3 am miserable and uncomfortable. I HATE HATE HATE painkillers. Hate how they make me feel so I only use them as a last resort. I guess I should learn to use my last resort before 3 am....

ANYWAY........

Joe got the kids there by 10am for Primary. They came home and we had lunch and cleaned up a bit.

We did gifts. The kids went all out this year!

Katya made me a few cards, a necklace, flowers AND a paper doll of ME complete with accessories and an arm sling!

Taylor planted flowers for me at her activity days. They are beautiful! She painted the pot herself!

Brynn drew a self portrait of herself at school using a mirror. It was a gift for both Mother's Day and Father's Day.

Ryan had an outline of his body done for me for mothers day so I will always remember how small he was.

Joe and the kids got me 4 movies to watch while I am stuck in bed.

Mona Lisa Smile (haven't seen!)

A Knights Tale
Footloose
Dirty Dancing

I LOVE those last movies!!!

They got me a whole hand full of the Utah Truffles. SOOOOOOOOO YUMMMMMMMM!!!!!

I also got more pieces of jewelry from my stash at my sisters house. I can't remember what is in there so its always a surprise!

I can't go in a car until Tuesday and my family was having a big bbq for mothers day. I couldn't go. So I texted my brother Steven to see if everyone wanted to come over for dessert. They did! So the kids and I spent the afternoon making treats.

Just before 9 all my family came!!!! I was SOOOOO happy to see them! I missed Brad and Janelle. They needed to get back to Logan. :( They had thier puppy with them and I wanted to see her! And thier kids of course!

Everyone had a good time playing the Wii (Joe got it while I was gone.)

We had yummy desserts and just talked. I am so glad they came to see me!

One Wild Ride

Last Wed morning I left to go to Oregon to see my grandfather. He feels he doesn't have much time left here on earth so I figured I would fly out to see him before my surgery makes it so I can't go anywhere.

I arrived in rainy cold Portland at lunch time. My sis Brittany picked me up from the airport. We headed straight to the mall for shopping and lunch! Britt's best friend Dani met us for lunch but then had to leave. Danita(my best friend) met us for some shopping and Cinnabon. When Nitters had to go back to school Britt and I walked her to the train and the we went back for more shopping. We fully intended to go to the pet store see the animals but we got sucked into this awesome store called Papaya!! LOVE it!!!!!!! We left there and went to another shoe store. We had been there 5 min when the phone rang. It was my mom. She asked if I had my rental car yet. I told her we were still shopping. She asked if I was going to still get the car today. I said of course I was, what time is it? It was 10 to 5!!!!!!! I was supposed to pick up my car at 5 and we were nearly an hour away!!!!! We had been in papaya for over an hour and didn't even know it!!

We hauled booty out of there with all my 2 new pairs of shoes (one i have buyers remorse over), perfume, 3 new shirts, lip gloss and gifts for my sisters.

Britt knew all the back roads and we made it to the car rental place in 40 min! SWEETNESS! I met my friend Mindy at the car rental place and we ran back to Britt's to unload all my crap and so I could change clothes. Mindy and I left and picked Danita up from the train and we went to the beach!!!!!!!!

We went to Danita's parent's restaurant for dinner and had the best time!!!!!!!! Did any of us even think to take pictures? NOOOOOOOOOOOOOO of course we didn't that would mean we were smart!!! We really did have a great time. After dinner we took Nita's sister Casey home and we chatted with their mom(my other mom) for awhile. We realized it was getting late and we needed to get back to the Portland area. We dropped Minders off and then Ni and I crashed at Britt's.


Thursday

Yes that was ALL in one day!!!

We spent the morning at Britts. She made us a yummy breakfast. Then I took Nita to the train and went to see my grandpa. He is doing well. In a mobilized wheelchair and has a hard time speaking. He was so happy to see me and pictures of the kids. We need to send him more pictures and stories. He really liked the stories about Ryan. Especially the peanut butter one. I went with him to lunch and we talked some more. He said he liked this new place better cuz they had better food. After his lunch was over he headed down to the common room for a movie. Since I had other places to go I excused my self from the movie and left. It was good to see him and fun to show him pictures. I wish I had had the sense of mind to take the kids to see him when we was there in August last year! With the car breaking down I didn't even think about it.

I left there and saw that my phone didn't work there and I had 3 missed calls. SO I called them back. One was my dad and he wanted to meet for lunch. I met him at Red Robin. We had a nice time and I showed him pics too.

After lunch I tried to go to Britt's but she want home yet so I headed into Hillsboro and decided to try and see the scoot. old neighbors of ours that moved. They weren't home. darn! I headed to my moms where there was a big party in honor of me. I was still kind of my birthday. I ended up in a chair showing pictures all night to all my family. Not really the socializing I wanted to do but I didn't have my kids here so they wanted pictures.

We had just over 20 people there. Of course my mom was there with my sister chelsie and my brothers Ben and Caleb, my dad, my sisters Lindy and Britt came with their boyfriends, my sister Becky and her husband Jake, my aunt Lori, her daughter in Lilian and her 2 kids, my aunt dana and uncle Mike, my cousins Jeremy his wife Taysia and thier son blake, cousin Heidi her daughter Annlawa and cousin Aaron, Danita and me. We had a blast and there was SOOOOOOOOO much good food!!!

I slept at my moms that night and the next day it was time to go home. Mom and I went to costco where the card Nazi wasn't going to let us in. Because my card didn't say I was an elite member even though I am we had to wait 20 more minutes before we could come in. Can you believe that!?!?! I was not very nice. I told her what I thought and we went in the other door. Stupid card Nazi.

We went to lunch. A bunch of us were supposed to be there but it ended up just me and mom and Debbie. It was good to see her and talk with her and hear how her family is doing. Her kids are my siblings ages. It was a good lunch. After lunch we went to Kohl's and I got entirely WAY too much jewelry then off to the grocery store where I saw my friend Leanna's sister Jen!!! It was so good to see her. Had I known Leanna was having a shower the next day I would have stayed for it!!! DANG!!!!!!!

I left mom and went to take my car back to the rental place only to have them tell me I had to take it back tot eh one in Hillsboro! UGH!!! SO back Otto Hillsboro I went. mom picked me up and then we went and got Danita and we were off to the airport!!! Danita got to fly to Utah with me!!!! Her brother was blessing the baby on sunday.

We got in just after 9pm. Joe came and got us and dropped us off at the movies!! Nita and I saw Made of Honor. SOOOOOOOOOO good!!!! After seeing Scotland on the big screen we decided that if Breezy doesn't come on the cruise with us then Nita and I are going to Scotland! My aunt lives there so we have a free place to stay!

SATURDAY

I had a nail appointment then we went and saw Iron Man. We is Joe , me , Danita, Joe's cousin Darren and his wife Stacie. After the movie we went o this new Irish place called McCools. Not the best but not bad. Danita and I went back to the house to get changed and then then Joelle showed up and us girls all left to go to Salt Lake to see the new play at the OBT!! Girls night! We met up with Danita's sister Jaeda at the theater. Joe and Joelle's husband went to the indoor football game! Every one had a great night. After the play me and Danita and Jaeda stayed for teh comedy show. It was hilarious!!! Danita and I got to go up on stage AGAIN! Before the play started Mike was asking for any birthdays or anniversaries and Danita and I are celebrating our 20th anniversary of being best friends! So back to the comedy show.... Danita and I got to do action figures!! We got to move the actors on stage in a scene. It was sooooo fun!!!

Sunday

Danita and I planned to go to Russ and Sarah's church together followed by Joe and the kids for the baby blessing. Mom and Dad Pappas REALLY wanted to see my kids. Well all Hell broke loose that morning. After my shower I was drying off and my shoulder dislocated!! I couldn't put it back in. Went to the instacare they were afraid to reset it so they sent me to the ER. They took me right back. After 2 hours of waiting for them to give me drugs and another hour for them to get to xray they came in to reset it . I moved my self, bumped my elbow on the bed and my shoulder went back in place!!! So all of that for me to do all the work! UGH!!!

We didn't make it to the blessing. I barely remember the rest of the day thanks to the drugs they gave. good drugs.... I didn't make it to choir either.

MONDAY
surgery next post....