Nick is Six!

Yay, My baby is six. It's hard to believe how fast they grow. He had a great day I think. He wanted his party to be at Chuck -E-Cheese this year. We've done it there before, but we just had family meet us. This time we did the whole enchilada. It meant that they did a whole program with Chucky himself and some fun games besides playing all the games. I did his invites myself

 It was a lot of fun. We had a whole table and Nick got to sit  at the head of the table. They had about 7 staffers come out and a lot of music going on. He was so funny to watch. I love it when I see his dimple come out. It's a true grin.

Nick's rowdy table

Oh, Nick and Alaria

Nick and his King Hat, he loves that thing

Blowing out the candles

After they did cake and sang Happy B-day the kids got to go meet Chucky himself. whoop whoop. Then the coolest thing ever they got to do what they call the Ticket Blaster. I attached a video of Nick doing it. They let Alaria do it with him. It was so funny. They could grab as many tickets as they could as they flew all around the tube they were in. Then they got to dance with Chucky. I also left that clip. It was hilarious to watch them dance. I couldn't stop laughing.

The Ticket Blaster, watch video clip, hilarious

Bustin a move, also watch video clip below

Oh Alaria and her poses crack me up

Nick and his gift from Alaria

Well it turned out to be a great party. Nick had a blast and I can't believe he is 6 already. I remember when they laid him in my arms. It's so fun to see them grow and watch their personalities grow. Thanks everyone for your special wishes for Nick. We appreciate them. All he can seem to talk about is his excitement for the weather to get nice enough so we can put up the nice swimming pool he got. Thanks for that we will lounge all summer!

Nick is 6!!! Dancing w Chucky

Nick and Alaria in ticket Blaster

Babysitting club Fun

Well, on Friday's we are in a babysitting club. I know it sounds like Jr. high or something, but it's great because we have three families and every Friday night one of us takes a turn and takes all the kids from 5-10pm and then we have 2 free Fridays to have date night and not pay for a babysitter. And the day it's our turn we get to have a lot of fun at our house. So, every Friday the kids get a party with a lot of friends and we get date night. We leave the last Friday a skip night to spend with our family. So this Friday it was out turn. Although I had a Doc appt before everyone came over. I heard that my liver is not working right. I have not been filtering Ammonia out of my body. So, when i kept thinking that I felt like poison was running through my body I was right. She said I have to go see a Liver specialist to figure out why my liver is not working or filtering. I may have to have a liver biopsy. I am glad I'm getting some answers and may be on my way to finding out what is wrong. My Doctor has given me some meds to help with the Ammonia but we have to still find out what is wrong with my liver. I have to still see a sleep doctor for my sleep apnea. She said it causes so many problems. That has always been a huge problem for me, my sleep. I've always had a huge problem with it and it does scare me sometimes that I'll never be able to work it out. It is key to a lot of my problems. But when i go to sleep I'm in a lot of pain from the fibro and my back and it is hard to sleep. Anyways my doctor told me that she will not give up until we get me better. She is giving me hope that someone may care and help me out. Well, we shall see. I have a long way to go, but it's the first time I've had this much hope in a long time.
Anyway friday was a fun night because we had a lot of kids in our little group have their B-day in March. We decided to have a mass B-day party for everyone. It was fun. The kids think they are so lucky because to them they think they have a party every friday. We love the kids and it's fun one night a month to have that many kids over, but I do think about those parents that have 10 or more kids. Wow hard work they do, but fun. Here are some pics from our fun Friday!

Alaria, Maddie, Danica, and Brooke in Alaria's room

B-Day Cake

Everyone Lovin the Computer Games

Brooke helpin Tyler make the cake

The little cutie, Boston havin some goldfish and making me want to pinch his cheeks

Oh, I love how much fun all these little ones bring to our house. It's a lot of fun to have them over. It's always great to be able to let our kids go to their houses too, so we can go out and have date night and spend time together. Since we are here without family it makes it a lot easier and more fun. I wish i felt a lot better so we could have A LOT more people over to have fun. We love our friends here and consider them family.

To get info from boys is like breaking into Fort Knox

So, yesterday was a crazy afternoon and night. This morning while I was going through Nick's folder I see that he has an award for being the S.O.A.R. student of the month. Which is a good thing. Usually when Alaria comes home with awards or anything it's the first thing I hear about from her. I said to Nick, "Why didn't you tell me about this? This is really awesome. Good job Bud!" He just shrugs his shoulders and is on  to the next thing. So, is it genetic, or are guys just like that? But for my journal sake I wanted him to remember his award

Anyways he just makes me laugh because usually when he gets home from school he'll show me what hd did at school. Most of the time I have to ask him, but he was just so funny about it. His teacher told me at parent teacher conferences that he is always the first one to help and if someone says they don't have a pencil he'll jump up and yell that he has one they can have. His teacher said that he is so well behaved and quiet, and the whole time I'm thinking, "Is she talking about Nick?" I know he's sweet and kind and he shows that at home all the time especially with Alaria, but he is serisouly my Wild Child. Since he was a baby he had huge bruised and bumps on his head from diving off the couch or table to some chair or something.

Bruises, Check

 And when I talk to him at home I swear he hears nothing I say because he is looking around and acts like he could care less if I was sitting right on top of him. So, I worried a little about full time school and his attention span.

You can see why I would be worried

He used to put my Nylons on his head,haha

But, she said he is doing great, so maybe I guess he does listen to what I say. haha It's funny to see how your kids act outside of home sometimes. You can feel like you couldn't possible tell them to do something one more time or you're gonna seriously put a whole in the wall and then you see that they really do listen. That made my day. I love being able to keep a journal this way. I used to be really good at keeping a journal. I did it consistently through jr.high and high school, and especially on my mission. But it got too busy when the kids came along. It takes so much less time to type it then write it. I wish I had done this from the time my kids were born to remember all the little funny things they do and say. But it's funny how things change. Alaria had been begging me to start her own Blog and she keeps telling me it's like a journal Mom and I can put pictures and take my own pictures to add. So, I let her start one under my name. It's so funnny because she's just learning to type and it takes literally forever, but she feels so grown up. I'm hoping it will help her learn how to use a computer and be excited to write her feelings down. Speaking of Parent teacher Conference we had a meeting this morning with the Board of the gifted program at Alaria's school. We met with the Principal and her teacher and several teachers that are involved in the program. They went over all the paper work I filled out and her test scores she's taken this year. They had her take a SAT test at the beginning of the year and she scored in the top 97th%. They said that they start considering kids that score at about 93-94%. But the normal test time is at the end of her 2nd grade. So, she will take the test again which will be over hte course of 3 days. It should happen sometime in the summer. Hopefully with a full school year behind her they said she should score even better. Tyler and I are new to this, but it will help her to get on a good track, and these days with the ways schools are going anything can help, so we will see what happens with it all, but we're excited for her. I have to go and have my Dr. Appt. i'm getting my heart tested, for what I'm not sure, but tomorrow I will see the Internist to learn about my test results. I keep thinking I should just do a seperate blog about my health. It seems like to me it gets so old talking about it. But anywho while I'm laid up a little I guess I can talk about it and while I have time I probably should keep track. Ciao until next time. We have a busy busy weekend. Tomorrow I see the Doc and it's our turn in our Babsitting group we get to have a party with 10 or so kids. It's fun. Then Saturday is Nick's Birthday and he wants his party at Chuck -E- Cheese, gotta love it.

Doesn't Fall far from the tree!

So, I've been really watching Alaria lately and it is so crazy how she does things exactly like I used to and still do sometimes. We'll be walking along or sitting there talking and it's literally like I'm looking into a crystall ball of the past of myself. Sometimes it's a little eerie how alike we are. I do love that she'll be trying something and I know exactly what she is doing and I tell her, "sister The apple did not fall far from the tree. You are just like me and I KNOW what you are doing" I just love her big heart, but I also know what is to come. I used to come home crying constantly because I was so worried about what other people thought and on and on. Such a girl. Tonight she was asking me if Satan can put bad dreams into our heads. I told her that we have to be sure to always listen to good music and watch good TV and not let bad things linger in our minds and we can stay pure and sweet like she is. I told her that Satan can be mean, but only if we let him bother us. And she started asking me why is he Satan. I talked to her again about the war in heaven before we came down to earth and I told her that 1/3 of our brother's and sister's went with him and her big eyes started to tear up. And a big tear rolled down her cheek and she said it is so sad we won't get to meet them. She is the sweetest thing ever. She is always so concerned about everyone. Last night Tyler said he was walking by her room turning out all of the lights and he could hear her saying her personal prayers and she was asking that uncle Todd be blessed to feel better and his family too. She asked to bless her Mommy to feel better. She is what keeps me going and her simple and pure sweet faith. She just knows that its right and good. She is my sweetheart. I wish I could freeze time and keep her like this. Thanks for her:)

CAUTION, Not for ALL eyes!!!

Well anytime I get a phone call from my family I have to say sometimes I get a nervous little tick when i answer because of our luck with things. Especially health issues. I've talked a bit about my brother, Todd and his struggles. I've written a little about his struggles he's had in the past 5 or so years. He lost his son, Mason, to SIDS and then their house was burglarized and burnt down about 6 months later. He then developed a deadly disease that a young healthy x college football player should not have to deal with, he creates blood clots and they have almost killed him countless times. Ruined his lungs, and heart. It is very scary. he recently had surgery to fix his knee, and just a few months after the surgery he slipped outside getting his dog and he aactually snapped his femur. He serisouly has the worst luck of anyone. My heart truly hurts for him. He doesn't know how much i love him. Because of his blood being so thin he almost bled to death and died during all the complications from this surgery. They sent him home with this hideous bandage expecting him to heal from the inside out. This is a pic he sent me of his leg with the bandage he is supposed to live with. be cautious it's not a pretty picture

So when they finally sent him home, which was too early they sent him home with this bandage. The next day he had a heart attack and formed a new blood clot in his arm. It was so very scary and i wasn't sure if I would see my brother again. I'm not just being sentimental, but really there were and still are some nights that I think

will I have him tomorrow.

Todd's Great family at Mesa Falls, near Yelloswtone

I know he is a fighter and has made it through so much, but I worry his body will get tired. My brother makes me laugh so much. He is easily one of the funniest people I know. I don't know why he is going through all of this. I love his family and Michele and Bailee and Brady. I wish I was closer so I could go see him and take care. I'm glad my Mom is there with him. I can't seeem to keep it together here for very long. The Doc is actually looking into a familial gene we all may carry that thickens our blood and can cause blood clots and havoc. I see my internist this Friday. I will be getting some results from some tests i took. She said she needed to see me asap, and she wants  40 min appt. So, I have no idea what wierd stuff I'll here. Maybe someone will figure out why sometimes I feel like maybe poison may be running through my veins. It just doesn't match with my brain, my thoughts. I want to go go go, like I always used to do, and I'm being forced to slow it down here. It's patience that the lord wants me to learn. I do love how close it has made my immediate family. My husband and my kids are amazing, and so is my family and friends. My brother is back home again and se sent me a picture of them changing the bandage which he has to do M-W-F. And they keep him home and hopefully he doesn't have a major episode again with bleeding out, you will understand if you dare look at thie next pixture. I am warning you that it is very graphic. I does show his wound. I think it's fascinating that he is just walking around with that major wound with that bandage you saw, and then they change it and it should heal in time, A LOT of time for this mess WARNING WARNING WARNING WARNING WARNING REAL WOUND!!!!!!!!!!!

I know it is just crazy to look at and I can't believe I'm posting it, but i can't believe that is actually him and a real leg. Is that not the craziest thing you've ever seen. I hoped you heeded my warning at the top to not look at it if you are squemish. My poor brother. He's only 38 and is struggling to survive, send up a prayer for him and his cute little family, please. Sorry If I grossed you out. This is usually pics of cute little kids, I'll make up for it next time.

Clip of Nick's First golf practice

Tornado Golfing

Nick started his first golf practice today. He was so cute. It was so hard because we had 60 mph winds today and I didn't know how he would do. But, they just learned a little bit about swinging. He was adorable. I would love for him to be a golfer, that is a sweet sport, no contact unless you hit yourself with the club which you can't rule anything out with Nick. He always maanages to find a way to get hurt. But I think he is very coordinated which is good he better be, considering my genes.haha He had fun and we'll see how he likes it. After this class we go into soccer. Then, when school is out he and Alaria will do swimming, T-ball and soccer to keep them active and not bored out of their minds this summer.

He is too cute. Man, it was so windy you can hear it really well, but of course you can't really tell with his hair that doesn't really move.

Good Form eh!!!!

Well we shall see how he likes it, and after he tries everything he can decide what he wants to concentrate on. It's so fun to watch him. He's my little sweetie, but I gotta tell ya he is VERY competitive and we all know where he gets that from, BOTH of us. That's good!!

The Joy's of Living with Boy's

As women, Alaria and I only have to put up with 2 men Daddy and Nicholas. We love them but there is that "Just Gross" component. And I have to tell you it's hilarious watching Alaria learn just how gross guys can be. Her little brother thinks it's just hilarious to chase her around and try to fart on her and you know the typical Brother stuff. I always tell her she has to just understand and I explain how my huge football player of a brother thought it was hilarious to torture me by sitting on me and farting on me. It's been so hilarious to hear her rant at her Dad and brother. I constantly hear, " That is soooo gross Dad," or, " Nick don't do that to me again, oh you're disgusting." haha. Well yesterday it was so funny because I could hear her telling her Dad he was disgusting because he farted on her because she wouldn't quit tackling him to play with her. She always jumps all over him like a jungle gym and he was using his Skunk defense to get her off. He thought it was so funny. But she said to him, "umph you never listen to me so I just have to write it down for you Dad!" So she literally wrote this letter to him and It was so funny I had to post it to save it into our family history. Just cracked me up.


Alaria's Letter to let her Dad know how she feels when her Dad uses his "Skunk" defense, or Fart,haha

 This mad me laugh so hard becuase Alaria had to write her dad a letter and if you can't read it, it says,
"Toatally Gross, It makes me sick, and she draws a picture of the bathroom door and herself actually throwing up and the thought bubble says, help help (goes on and on )
Oh, it was a great laugh and I had to save it, so when I print this for my family she can remember this. The joys of living with BOYS.haha

San Diego March 2011

This past week has been so great. I wish there was a way I could have stayed in San Diego. The only problem was that I missed the kids. It was so great to get away with Tyler. The break was needed so badly. I needed a break from all the medical drama in my life. My health has been crazy and it was such a pleasure to just take a shrt break from reality for awhile. I want to remember this trip, so I will remember with some pics. It was such a surprise to even go on this trip. It was my valentine's day surprise from Tyler. He had a business trip for HP and they were so awesome to let me come too. We stayed at the Sheraton Bay Hotel. It was literally on the San Diego Bay. This is the view from our back deck. I took this picture the minute I stepped into our room.

It was the marina. It was so fun to see all the boats. It reminded me of our Honeymoon in Puerta Vallarta, Mexico because out the back we could see the marina like this. That was so great. I immediately felt my spirit lift with the beautiful sunshine, all the green beautiful hills and of course the ocean, which I love, love, love. I was able to hang out and chill while Tyler had to go to his Classes. Hp had about 1,000 employees at the convention. I went out and this is what I saw when I walked out the front door of the hotel.

There was this great walkway, sidewalk along the bay. You could see down town San Diego and the Bay Bridge. It was absolutely beautiful. If I looked a bit more to the right I could see the Naval base. It was fun to just sit there and see quite a few naval ships come through and watch the planes land and a lot of action going on. In fact they were loading a ship right there that was being deployed to help the disaster in Japan. San Diego is south right next to Mexico. And With the earthquake and Tsunami in Japan there was actually 9 foot high waves that came into Northern california, close to Oregon also. We were in no danger being so South from the damage, but it did cause a lot of damage in Northern California. The Tsunami had such devastating effects. To think it was so far away in Japan and the waves actually caused some damage in the US was crazy.

One of the many ships from the naval base

I was able to just chill out for a few days and relax and Tyler Finished his convention by Friday night and we were able to go into downtown San Diego for Dinner. It was a lot of fun. It's one of the biggest cities I've been in, in the US. HP took us downtown to a place called the lamplight district. It was a huge sreet with these huge beautiful lamp/lantern lights that adorned the whole street miles long. There were so many restaurants, shops, galleries, theatres, and many cultural activities going on. It was so much fun. We decided to eat at one of our favorite places "The Old Spaghetti Factory" When we went inside it was 6 levels. I love the restaurant, every city you go to where this restaurant is, it's very fun to see how they decorate it. It was a very vibrant and fun place to be.

The next day we set out on our adventure. It was our vacation without ANY plans. It was so fun to just decide what we wanted to do. The first thing I wanted to do was find the San Diego Temple. It's always been my favorite temple. That is until the Rome temple is built. haha. Of course I will be biased to that temple considering I served my mission in Italy. But I've always wanted to see the San Diego temple for as long as I can remember. It really is magnificent and gorgeous. You drive down highway 5 and you kind of turn a little bend and it stands out majestically. I think i took a million picures. I'll just post a few of my favorites. It was so fun to see a few brides come out. It was fun to see the look on those couple's faces. They looked so happy. It took me back to that beautiful day I was married. There is no place like the temple and knowing that you are sealed together forever.



Just the most beautiful place

After we went to the temple we traveled up the coast a little to a beach in an area called Del Mar. It was a beautiful beach. It had the beach and a lot of very pretty hiking areas above the beach with a park that had so many families and pets. I was wishing so much my kids were there. It was so fun and it had a little street that was the pride of the little town that had a lot of shops and fun places. It reminded me a lot of Italy. It is so hilly and green with beautiful flowers and the smell of the Ocean was just so great!

So great to have our feet in the ocean



haha Not too sure why I couldn't wait to set my purse down before I ran to the waves



After we hiked around for a little bit we walked up to the charming little town of Del Mar. I loved it. I loved the Ivy covering the buildings.

After a lot of walking around it was so great to go back and have that oh so lovely hot tub to sit in. I told Tyler if he wants a happy wife he needs to get me a hot tub. It was so great because the pool and hot tub had a glass wall around it so you could see the marina. It was fun to see all of the people that we're hanging out or living on those boats. We wanted to walk down onto the docks and see if we could just claim one of the boats for the night.haha
The next day we decided to check out the San Diego Zoo. I'm kind of crazy about the zoo. I can stare for hours at certain animals. We had heard a lot about the zoo there. When we got there I couldn't believe how huge that place was. I was so excited to see the panda bears because I've never seen one before. They were so cute. Also, there was a momma Hippo who had a 2 month old baby and she ws trying to teach it how to swim and hold it's breath under water. It was seriously the cutest thing ever. I couldn't believe how big that place was. The amount of trees and green was so amazing. One of the prettiest places I've ever seen.

If you look close you can see baby being pushed by her Momma

After the zoo we decided to go across the bay bridge to a beach called Coronado. It was absolutely beautiful, huge, and several miles long. There was an absolutely beautiful Resort on the Southern Part of the Beach. We had so much fun on the Rocks looking for seashells, that was Alaria's main request that we bring home some real seashells. We saw some crabs and a lot of sea urchins and clams. It was fun to lay on the beach and walk in the surf. There is nothing more relaxing to me than the beach. I love the sound of the waves and the way it smells. It was a great beach that I can't wait to take the kids back to.

We Love Alaria and Nick

Resort from Heaven

After we left the beach on our way back to the hotel we passed by the Temple at night and we stopped to see it all lit up. I could have stayed there all night just staring at that place. Just so beautiful to me. It felt gro sit there with my husband and reflecting on the last 11 years. It hasn't been all an easy road. Nothing normal that is for sure. A definite trial that I didn't count on was having my body betray me in a way that I never expected. I sat there and was so happy to have a break from the reality that my body continues to do things that I don't want it to do. We have had 2 beautiful kids and I'm so happy for that, but I won't lie and say that I alwas dreamed of having a large family with lots of children. And as I sat there looking at the temple I was reminded that we will have our chance to add to the great family we have one day. And after the trial of this life is over we will all get the chance to to realize those dreams we have. I felt a strong love from my Father in Heaven.  I sit here today and don't know my fate. I'm waiting for new news about the problems my body is having. It can be scary, but i'm so thankful for my family and my friends, and most of all my faith that gets me through the hard times. I know I'll get through it.




My Love!