New do

If you've known me for a while, you've noticed I don't change my hair very often. I've changed color a few times, but I always go back to my old faithful blond. Monday, after much encouragement from Isaac, I went and got my hair done and this is the result. I really like it, it's just weird not to have long hair.

Christmas

We had a great Christmas this year. My brother Andy and family were able to come from Utah and spend the week with us. The girls had a lot of fun together. It rained almost all week so we were stuck at home a lot, but the kids did really well together.
We went to my sister in law Amanda's mom's house for Christmas Eve and had a special guest. The kids all got to make sure Santa knew what they wanted. The only bad part was that most of them changed their minds and asked for something else.
This is the first picture I have of Lexi with Santa that she is not crying in. She's always been pretty scared of him.
Aaron was more interested in the candy cane than Santa.
They all even got a gift from Santa. They had a great time. Thanks Barbara and Kevin for having us over. We had so much fun.

The girls looked so cute in their Christmas jammies. They were all patiently waiting for me to wake up. I'm not a morning person.
Lexi also turned 5 on Christmas. It's hard to believe my baby is already 5. She is turning into a beautiful, hard headed little girl and we are so grateful for her.

Let's catch up

This is all super out of order and I don't know how to fix it so I hope it make sense. Aaron had his surgery yesterday. We woke up at 3am and drove home from Cali to make it to the hospital by 9am. He did so well. He slept most of the day afterward and his eyes are swollen, but he is pretty happy. He doesn't like the vasoline-like drops I have to put in, but other than that we're just hoping it worked. His eyes are still a little crossed, but the doctor said it might take a few days.
This is him right after we got home. He refused to wake up at the hospital so they just let us come home. They were really busy and needed us out of the room. He finally woke up about 2 hours after we got home and has been eating ever since.
This is just a super cute picture of my niece Malia after the funeral that is mentioned below. Aaron and Malia were talking to each other. It was adorable.

My grandfather passed away last Friday so we drove to California Tuesday morning. He was a great man and I was so lucky to have him in my life. We were very lucky that we could all go visit him this summer. He will be greatly missed.

Lexi and Alli went to a princess party for their cousin Emma last weekend. They wanted to make sure I put a picture on my blog so everyone could see how pretty they looked.
Allison finally got her big girl bed. She still looks so tiny in it. She really enjoys jumping on it and has already broken her box spring.

Isaac's health has been pretty good. His mass is still the same size, but it hasn't gotten any bigger. Oh and he decided to grow a beard. I hate it, but he still won't shave it. Feel free to comment on how much you hate it as well. Maybe we can collectively get him to shave it.

I have been pretty busy the last few weeks. I've been planning Lexi's 5th birthday party. We are having it tomorrow at a park so I hope the weather stays nice. I got a job at the Children's Place so I've been gone nights. It's awesome though because I get 30% off. I think that's about it for us. I hope everyone is having a wonderful Christmas season so far.

I stole this from my friend Renee's blog. It looked fun so I thought I would do it too.

1. Who was your FIRST prom date?
Isaac. We went to my senior prom together.

2. Do you still talk to your FIRST love?
Everyday, whether I want to or not.

3. What was your FIRST alcoholic drink?
I was probably 16 or so. All the cool kids were doing it.

4. What was your FIRST job?
I worked at the Orange Show Speedway in San Bernardino. It sucked because I only worked Saturday nights which made me miss all the youth dances.

5. What was your FIRST car?
Technically it was a 1990 Toyota Corolla, but my dad bought it for me after I totalled his newer Toyota Corolla after a youth dance. Maybe I should have kept working...

6. Who was the FIRST person to text you today?
Amanda telling me she got gas for $2.03 today. Can you believe it?

7. Who is the FIRST person you thought of this morning?
Lexi. I had to get her up for school, but I really didn't want to wake up this morning.

8. Who was your FIRST grade teacher?
Mrs. Ferguson. What's funny about her is that Isaac installed the alarm in her house right before we moved to Arizona. Small world huh.

9. Where did you go on your FIRST ride on an airplane?
I flew to Florida to be in the Disney World parade my senior year. I saw N'Sync in the airport, but I didn't know who they were at the time. Guess I missed my shot at Justin.

10. Who was your FIRST best friend and are you still friends with them?
Probably Trisha. We were in the same ward most of our lives. She happens to live in AZ know too. Isaac ran into her a few months ago so were are able to hang out again which was so cool.

11. What was your FIRST sport played?
I played volleyball my freshman year. I was getting pretty good, but I decided to give it up for cheerleading the next year.

12. Where was your FIRST sleep over?
I would say my neighbor Melody's house when I was about 5. She was my next door neighbor.

13. Who was the FIRST person you talked to today?
Lexi while I tried to wake her up for about five minutes. I finally had to pick her up and make her sit up. We are not morning people.

14. Whose wedding were you in the FIRST time?
I was in Renee's wedding. I had to leave early though because I was flying to Florida that night for above mentioned parade appearance.

15. What was the FIRST thing you did this morning?
Move Alexis off my pillow. I'm not quite sure how both girls wound up in my bed this morning.

16. What was the FIRST concert you ever went to?
I saw the Oakridge Boys with my parents at the Orange Show. (That's a fair in San Bernardino for all those that did not grow up in the ghetto.)

17. FIRST tattoo or piercing?
I had my ears pierced when I was about 8.

18. FIRST foreign country you went to?
I went to TJ once. Does that count? Isaac took me with his friends Matt and Celeste. I have a picture of us sitting on donkeys painted like Zebras. Good times.

19. What was your FIRST run in with the law?
I guess it would be my car accident when I was 16. It was my fault so I got my first ticket and had to go to court and everything. Definitely not a fun day.

20. When was your FIRST detention?
In 8th grade I was forging my mom's signature while in class, pretty much in front of my teacher. She didn't think too highly of that.

21. What was the FIRST state you lived in?
California. It still feel weird sometimes that I don't live there anymore.

22. Who was the FIRST person to break your heart?
So far the heart is unbroken. I didn't really have "boyfriends" until Isaac so my heart stayed intact.

23. Who was your FIRST roommate?
Besides my sister? I lived with my friend Kim for a few months. She wound up getting secretly married while we were living together which made it weird for me when her husband moved in. It was definitely a learning experience.

24. Where did you go on your FIRST limo ride?
Junior prom to San Diego. A bunch of the cheerleaders went as friends and had such a good time.


If anyone else wants to do this, feel free. Let me know so I can read yours.

Health update

Aaron had an appointment with the eye doctor this week. I was worried because both of his eyes have been crossing lately. The doctor assured me that this was a good thing though. It means he can see out of both eyes, he just won't use them together. Since he has vision in both eyes he has approval for the corrective surgery. He will be having it on December 11. It is an outpatient surgery thankfully, but it is never fun to have your kid put under. Since Aaron has had anaesthesia previously, we know he will handle it well. I just have to handle it well. Isaac will be out of town that day and the day after so we will have to manage without him.

Isaac's mass is stable so his doctor is happy. They are going to continue monitoring him every two weeks to make sure it stays the same or gets smaller. He is in less pain, but he is still always tired. I will be so happy when he finally recovers from this.

Halloween finally

The angel, the fairy, and the spider.



Isaac and I were Clark Kent and Lois Lane for a Halloween themed wedding. Apparently brown wigs were in short supply so Isaac brought home a red one.

Oh boys...

Well, the men in my family are having a hard time right now. On Sunday we had to take Isaac to the ER. He was sitting at church and started having really bad chest pain. They took him right back and got him a shot of morphine but still don't really know why he was having so much pain. We think maybe the mass is irritating the lung for some reason. It took them 8 hours to figure that out by the way. He is on Vicodin to help with the pain and we are waiting for his pulmonologist to get back to us.


On to the next boy. Aaron had his appointment with the eye specialist yesterday. There is nothing wrong with his eyes, but for some reason he is only using his right eye most of the time. The bad part about that is that it could lead to permanate loss of sight. We are trying to treat him by putting an eye patch on his good eye for 3 hours a day. You can imagine how well this is going so far. I pretty much have to hold him the whole time so he won't take it off. The longest he has worn it is 45 minutes. We have a week to get him to wear the patch or I will have to dialate his good eye everyday which will make it blurry in the hope that he will compensate with the bad eye.

Good thing the girls are so tough. I don't know if I could handle anymore specialist appointments.

Sickly Aaron

Aaron has been having some issues again lately. We noticed he had a skin reaction every time we tried milk so we had him tested for allergies. What a pandora's box we opened with that. He was positive for milk, eggs, peanuts, cats, and dogs. He is also anemic. I just took him to the specialist and they did another blood test to check for more foods and will do a scratch test when we go back in a few weeks. In the mean time he is doing breathing treatments twice a day. They think he might have asthma also. To top it all off about a week ago we noticed one of his eyes wandering solo. He's developed a lazy eye so I am taking him back in tomorrow to have it checked out. Hopefully it will be an easy fix.

Castles and Coasters

Isaac's work took us to Castles and Coasters yesterday. We had a great time. Here are a ton of pics from the day.



Alli got thrown forward the first time they got bumped and busted her lip so she did not enjoy this ride very much.



Aaron had to watch all day. There were't any rides he could go on there. Thankfully he wasn't too bummed about it.
It was so nice to go somewhere as a family and just spend all day together. It feels like we don't do it often enough. We had so much fun!

Date night

Last weekend Isaac and I got to go out alone so we went to a Diamondbacks game. They have an awesome field that is indoors, thank goodness. This is how high up we were.

Isaac has some sort of disorder which prevents him from making a normal face in pictures. We're working on it so hopefully we'll find a cure soon.

I... Have been tagged!

I... Have been tagged!

I am: Laura.

I think: I need a vacation, without kids.

I know: my Heavenly Father loves me.

I want: to fit into my jeans again.

I have: a beautiful family.

I wish: I was more organized.

I hate: the smell of menudo. Isaac loves the stuff.

I miss: sleeping in. Dang kindergarten.

I fear: failing as a mother.

I feel: like crap. I have a cold.

I hear: Alli taking care of her baby

I smell: nothing. I've got a cold.

I crave: anything with sugar.

I search: for things to do with a 3 year old.

I wonder: what Isaac is doing right now.

I regret: not finishing college.

I love: my family.

I care: what people think of me.

I always: check on my kids at night.

I am not: a supermom.

I believe: in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. (You're singing the song in your head right now aren't you.)

I dance: when the girls want to have a dance party.

I sing: in Primary

I don't always: do the dishes at night.

I fight: about home decorating. Isaac wants to be too involved.

I write: hardly anything. I mostly type.

I lose: sleep. My 1 year old still doesn't sleep through the night.

I win: at boardgames. Just ask Isaac.

I never: clean my own room. It's always the last thing on my list.

I listen: to lots of I am a Child of God solos. (thanks Alli and Lexi)

I can usually be found: at home.

I am scared: of spiders.

I need: Tivo

I am happy about: my life. So far so good.

I tag: anyone who wants to do this. It was kind of hard.

Beach fun

We had such a good time on our campout at McGrath State Beach. All of the cousins got to play all week and the adults got to hang out an visit.
Alexis took this picture. I caught her a few times stealing the camera and taking random pictures.
It took Alli a little while to warm up to great grandpa, but once she did she couldn't stop giving him loves.
Lexi and Melena really like to show their funny faces.
Aaron really enjoyed eating the sand and dirt as you can see.This is most of the kids. We were singing songs getting ready for the talent show.
We went to Lompoc to visit my grandpa. Most of us hadn't seen him for a while so it was great to visit.
Isaac was very serious about the sandcastle contest. He won.
Aaron really enjoyed the dirt. I'm not sure he ate anything else all week.

Alexis started school

She actually started the 11th, but I'm just getting around to blogging about it. She has been so excited for school to start and she absolutely loves it. I was so worried that she wouldn't like it, but she gets so excited everyday to go. On Friday I had to break it to her that she couldn't go to school the next day and she started crying. I'm so glad she loves it. I just can't believe I am old enough to have a kindergartner.

And we're off

We are headed to California today for our vacation. We will be camping with my family at a beach in Ventura. Should be a good time. By the way Isaac's biopsy went well and we found out he has valley fever. He is going to start taking some drugs for it, but we decided not to start them until we get back from vacation. They will probably make him feel sick and can make his hair fall out. Exciting stuff huh.

Belly Flopping

We had a little pool party last night and the boys decided it would be fun to belly flop. Isaac's cousin David won the night with this beauty of a flop.

Memory Lane

MEMORY LANE-This will be fun especially if everyone and I do mean EVERYONE will join in! This is just too fun to pass up. Here are the directions:

1. Add a comment on my blog, leave a memory that you and I had together or you had with Isaac. It doesn't matter if you knew me a little or a lot, anything you remember, good or bad but be nice!!!!!!!

2. Next, re-post these instructions on your blog. If you don't want to play on your blog, or if you don't have a blog, I'll leave my memory of you in my comments. We can make it a competition if anyone wants. Let's see who can come up with the funniest memory and who has the most memories. Please keep it going. ENJOY :)

Isaac's update

Isaac went back to the doctor on Monday. All his tests came back negative again so he is scheduled for a biopsy on the 18th. Isaac is not very excited about getting a needle to the back, but I am so glad the we will finally get some answers. He has been feeling better so hopefully when we go in for the biopsy the mass will have shrunk. If it has they won't have to do it. If they do the biopsy we will have the results back on the 28th.

Camping Fun

We went camping up by Heber for the 4th of July weekend. It was tons of fun. It was especially nice to get out of the heat for a few days. The day we left it was 55 degrees and Isaac and I were ready to come home.
The kids all marched in a 4th of July parade. They all looked so cute marching around camp.
Lexi's favorite part of the camp out was the swing the boys put up. All she ever wanted to do was get pushed on the swing.
Alli really enjoyed all the junk food. She definitely has my sweet tooth.
Aaron just hung out the whole time. Apparently the outdoors make him very sleepy.