Time to catch up!

I've managed to get really behind with updates, so look out, here comes a huge post! Some of it may not be interesting to anyone reading, but since this blog is working at being our grad school scrapbook/journal, for my sake, I want to get it caught up a little bit. Here goes...

Our FUN DATE in San Fran with the best hot-fudge sundae ever at Ghiradelli Square.




MAX had a crazy hair/clothes day at school. He chose to wear his swimsuit with mis-matched socks and shoes. :)



My 28th BIRTHDAY was a great day! The boys threw me a tinker-bell party and boy was it fun! :)



EASTER pictures. :) Silly kids...




OAKLAND A'S baseball game... something that's been sitting on the bucket list for a while. Dan took the older boys and they loved their first Major League baseball game!



WICKED! We got tickets with a big group in our ward many, many months ago and the day finally came! Here we are at the Orpheum Theatre in San Fransisco. If you're in the area, you definitely don't want to miss this!



DOMAN'S BIOPSY. This is something we've been waiting to be done for a very long time. It is a pretty minor surgery, but anything where they're cutting my little boy open is major for me! And with 10 stitches that brings his new grand total to 19. They went through his thigh to take a good piece of muscle and hopefully find out what kind of muscle disease he might have. Doman of course was a champ as usual, especially since we had to wake him up at 5:00 in the morning to drive down to Stanford. When it was all over and he woke up from the anesthesia, he looked at the nurse and said "that was fun!" She said she's never heard that before and I'm not surprised. He is quite a kid.



LINCOLN graduates to a big boy bed. We didn't know how this would go because our 3 1/2 year old loves his crib so much, but a loft bed turns out to really just be a glorified crib with LOTS of space underneath. He loves it. We love it. And Cali loves it... she finally gets her girly crib. :)



BYU/Cal RUGBY Game. This is the 4th year in a row that Cal and BYU have been in the Championship Rugby game and BYU finally won! Dan took the boys down to Stanford to enjoy the fun. They had a great time... especially getting to stay up way past bedtime!






DAN'S COLLOQUIUM: Dan is lucky he doesn't have to defend his Dissertation, but he still has to give a final presentation before he can graduate. Well that big day was this month and he wanted me there to witness all the amazing work he has done. I had completely no idea what he was talking about, but his buddies all told me he did a great job! He is so glad it is over. Now he can finish his last paper and he will be completely done!

This is us in front of his building. :)

MOTHER'S DAY! I woke up to my favorite, biscuits and bacon gravy in bed... I was amazed! Dan's never tried doing something like that, but it was so yummy that I'm going to be begging for that again! Then the kids gave me all of their cute cards, pictures, and crafty things they had made me. So sweet and fun! We ended the day with a fun BBQ with our friends.


Plus, lots more to come... family coming to visit, Disneyland and our trip to So. Cal, Doman's Birthday, and Doman's biopsy results will be coming soon!

Happy Birthday Max!

It's been a very long time since February 25th, but I'm finally getting to post about Max's 6th birthday! The weeks surrounding his birthday turned out to be quite chaotic, but we love birthdays and we still managed to celebrate all day long with him!

This has been a big year for Max. He started Kindergarten and has really had to put his toddler years behind him. Dan was out of town a bit recently, which I never handle very well, but Max stepped in as man of the house and he was so good at it! I can't believe how much he has grown up! He moderates the kids' little squabbles, helps me clean, entertains Cali, helps the kids, plus he is a good little friend to me. He even said he would get up at night with the kids (he didn't quite manage that, though. :) He is such a good kid and we love him more all the time.

I asked Max what things he has loved the very most this year and here it is:

1. Doman
2. Star Wars

That honestly sums it up.

Now, onto his actual birthday! First thing in the morning we of course open presents... he had said that he only wanted Star Wars presents, but when it came down to it he gladly accepted the other things we had already gotten him. :)



Then before school we went out for breakfast all together plus a quick stop to play at the toy store.

At school his nice teacher Sue made him a crown and they sang to him. Max brought a treat to share... his favorite, coconut bread and apples.



Finally after school we were all off to Chuck-E-Cheese. Max actually planned to do something else for a change, but it would NOT stop raining so he had to stick with something inside. Good ol' Chuck E Cheese. :)



Then on Friday all his cute friends joined him for a party at the park. With such a crazy week, I was so glad we still pulled off a simple party for him and his friends. We got a Star Wars Cake, the kids played Star Wars Jedi Training games, and then found "asteroid" prizes. Max said it was the best party ever and that definitely could not make a mom happier!

And a big thanks to my friend Britney for all the fabulous pictures she took at the park! Here are a few:

YUCK!!!

Has your kid ever had a tick before? Probably not, but if someone is going to get one, it would just have to be Doman, right? UGHHH! Dan was rubbing Doman's back before bed tonight when Doman says not to rub in a certain spot because there's an owie. He has such a high pain tolerance that we never know that he's even hurt! When is this kid gonna get a break?!

Anyway, here is a picture. It isn't good enough to really see, so be grateful because it was a fat ol' tick with its head and half its body embedded in Doman's back and the legs hanging out everywhere. I wanted to scream!!! But I let Doman do the screaming while Dan removed most of it. Since the head was still stuck we had to call our pediatrician to see what to do. Friday night in the ER again... wouldn't that just be great! Thank goodness she said for now we can just leave it since the disease is carried in the body of the tick, but still watch for an infection.


Gosh, this blog is seriously starting to be my special place to vent, because once again, I feel a little better just getting this off my chest.

Happy (half) Birthday Cali!

We don't usually celebrate half birthdays, but we just couldn't resist. Our sweet baby girl is a year and a half old! Our friends who also had a girl born the exact same day thought it'd be fun to get the girls together to celebrate. Here are the happy girls enjoying their dessert. :)


And here is a little update on Cali with some of her favorite things.

1. Pointing. She doesn't say much more than "ba-ba" and "ma-ma", but somehow she really manages to express herself and get what she wants. We ask her questions and she will nod or shake her head enthusiastically. As cute as it is, we're still gonna pop that girl right in speech the first chance we get. :)

2. Shoes and getting dressed. She loves us to change her clothes, diaper, and shoes all day long which is hilarious. None of our boys did anything like this so we think it is super cute and fun.

3. Watermelon. Cali really doesn't have many favorite foods. She is a very little eater... but she devours watermelon!

4. Reading books and being read to. If Cali is ever being quiet and keeping to herself, she is always sitting next to a bookshelf looking at books. And the only thing she loves more than that is when we read to her. She is especially a sucker for any book with animals in it.

5. Being outside and playing at parks.

The Planet Museum

One of the kids' favorite places is the Chabot Science Center, a.k.a. The Planet Museum. We have been many, many times, but I don't think I've ever posted any pictures. Max has especially been our planet lover, but the other boys and even Cali all love to go explore there. Here are some pictures from last week.

Ta-Da!

He finally got his cast on and he couldn't be more proud of it!

Totally Radical

I absolutely cannot think of the last time I had such a blast! Who knew the 80's were so fun?! It was our friend Marianna's birthday and what she really wanted to do was go all together to an 80's Tainted Love concert... what a wild night! I can't thank these girls enough for keeping me young and having fun all the time!

Getting ready to go!

Here is the whole group. I was SO proud of these gals going all out and dressing up. It was definitely worth the effort because we looked awesome!

(Me, Brit, Mindy, Mindi, Rebecca, Kendra, Karley, Jenn, Marianna, Kelly, and Jeni)

We danced the night away, sang at the top of our lungs, and partied as hard as we could!

I think I'm singing here...? Another thing about this night is that it was officially our friend Rebecca's last night living here. Sad! But I'm glad we could have so much fun her last night! Plus, for now she isn't moving far, so we'll still have plenty of time to hang out.

Aren't my glasses awesome? I wore these beauties in high school.

Some girls won't rest until I've posted one of these embarrassing pictures. Don't worry, there's a story... Dan said he'd give me a super big prize if I could pick up on some guys at the concert. Sounds just like Dan, doesn't it? Obviously I don't have it in me, but Mindy would not let me fail and got some guys to take pictures with me that I could use as proof to Dan. It didn't work... he knew I didn't really have the guts. Still, it was so humiliating to take the pictures, that he still says I'm getting a prize. He'll have to make his rules a little more clear next time.

Doman and the ER

I know I should use this time to actually post some updates, but I've got to vent out some frustration first.

Doman was at preschool yesterday when he fell off his bike and the bike landed on his arm. When I picked him up he seemed fine, but seeing me made him all teary again. At home we watched a show and ate snacks and he was fine so long as he was holding his arm against his chest. I really wish I knew how to tell if my kid had a broken bone! But he couldn't really use his arm or put pressure on it, so Dan came home from school and took him to the ER around 4:00 in the afternoon...

And then they wait... the ER was packed and no one seemed to ever be leaving the waiting room. AND, Doman couldn't eat or drink anything in case he needed anesthesia. I think Dan would have just left except Doman's arm was really bothering him. SEVEN hours later Doman finally gets seen only to find out they don't have whatever specialist there they need to look at the x-rays (a radiologist?) Seriously?! But they're pretty sure it's fractured, so they wrap him up in a splint. Now we have to wait for someone to check the x-rays and then go back and have a cast put on it. So frustrating.

Doman and Dan got home at mid-night, and I was sure Doman was going to just walk in and pass out because he'd be so tired. But surely enough, he came walking in with a big smile, proud of his splint, and even more excited to show me the little stuffed animal he got. To say he is a trooper is an understatement.

This poor kid has been through so much already. Plus he's been really sick the past couple months and spent many days and nights in pain. I can't stand to see him hurting! Then he breaks his arm, waits in the ER for seven hours (they did finally let him eat around 9:00), with his arm hurting while also feeling a bit nervous. But he's always so tough and cool about it. I guess if he doesn't seem traumatized by all this medical crap then I shouldn't work myself up either.

Ah, I feel better. Thanks for listening. :)

Here's the sweetheart...