Birthdays!

Well since I haven't posted since Chris's B-day I figured I had better get things pulled together. This is suppossed to be my subsitute for a journal or scrapbooking! So I can't let it go too or I'm doomed to forgeting my kids lives.

Cai's B-Day

Well Cai turned 7 in May. We took it a little easier this year and let him invite 4 friends to the funpark. I am embarrassed that I didn't get him a decent cake made, but I had just finished doing a wedding cake and was a little burned out and had very little time. In fact I can't even find a photo of the one I did make. Oh well at least he got a little cake and cupcakes for his B-Day party with his friends from Sam's Club. They had a wonderful time at the fun park. We bowled ate pizza and played lazer tag. They had a blast! Me, Chris, Cate and their uncle Nic even joined them in Lazer tag. It was pretty funny to watch Cate running around with a vest on as big as she was. But she caught on very quickly and did really good. It was Adults and Cate against the boys. That weekend his Grandma and Grandpa Guymon and Grandma and Grandpa Callister came up for his last soccer game, and then we all went to Pizza Plus, since the Grandparents HAVE to go there when they're up, and I don't blame them. We went home and opened presents. Had Cai's "Ghost Town" cake per his request. I had envisioned something more grand but it pretty much ended up being a big chocolate square with two skeleton men battling it out.

My Birthday!

Chris really surprised me for my birthday this year and arranged for a baby sitter to come. He had planned the whole evening and it was awesome. He made reservations at La Nonne for dinner which was excellent. The food and atmosphere really reminded me of Italy so it was fun to reminisce about that. Then we went to see "Angels and Demons" which was really fun to see an entire adult movie with no interuptions. It was also fun to watch them race around Rome and remember the sites we had seen. It was really a good movie. It makes me want to read the book again. I had already kind of given myself my birthday/mother's day/Anniversary gift when I got my ring in NZ. So I wasn't really expecting much but Chris let me get new dishes anyways. And considering what he got for father's day I didn't feel too badly about the splurge.

Cate's Birthday!

Yes this time of year is quite busy with Birthdays they come about every two weeks from the beginning of May to the end of June. So sorry for the monster post, I'm trying to catch up. Well the little princess wasnt quite old enough for a friends party so we went to Salt Lake to Chuck-E-Cheeses by her request. I't pretty sad when you're just excited at the end that all the tokens are gone, and then spend about an hour choosing their 5 cent prizes, Oh the choices! A sparkly comb, or a puzzle that will break in ten seconds flat? She had a great time, though and that's what matters. She had to stand in front of the stage to watch the silly animatronics people and dance to the music. She's got some great moves! We went over to Grandma Callisters to opend presents and have Cake and Ice Cream. She desperately wanted a purple Barbie cake, so I managed to get the cake baked, but not decorated when we left home. So we stopped at Walmart on the way home and I bought some ready-made frosting and decorated it in about 10 min. Grandma Callister didn't have any red so we ended up with a Cinderella blue instead, but Cate was a good sport. She got a "Baby Alive" and a bunch of baby stuff. And of course new clothes! She had a great B-Day, and I still can't wrap my mind around the fact that my baby is now 3 years old!

Cole's Birthday!

Well Cole is such a good sport. His Birthday is dead last and it gets a little difficult to wait that long, but he did great. He had his cousin Gavin and Collin up so we had a pirate birthday party. We were trying to get a bunch of stuff done on the yard before we left for Colorado, so yet again I rushed through getting a cake baked. I figured I would make his requested pirate ship one for his friends party that will be who knows when. We hoped we could have it when we returned from Colorado, but all kinds of unexpected events occured. Our trip was permanently postponed due to the death of my Hero "Uncle Dean." It really rocked our family to the core. In my mom's family Aunt Claudia and Uncle Dean were just the rock that the rest of the family relied upon. My mom lost her mom when she was just 16 years old, so my mom's oldest sister (Claudia) and her husband Uncle Dean were more like grandparents to us. So due to funerals and my sister from Colorado coming up here, we just stayed in Garden City and hung out with the family. It's not often that all of us get together since we're spread all over the place so it was great. But like most family get togethers we all get each other sick. My nephew started getting sick and later we discovered it was Hand, Foot, Mouth Disease, so Sunday morning Cole woke with a fever. We still aren't sure if he's got it so his Birthday party with friends is gonna be really late! Oh well better late than never. He had a good party with the cousins though. They all dressed up like pirates and we drank Shark's Blood punch and let the kids decorate their own chocolate cupcakes with pirate stuff and then had a treasure hunt. Coley was thrilled to get several lego sets and a new Wii game. The Wii has been "broken" for a while, so we "fixed" it and let them play. Cole also finally got his Easter bike replaced. He got a new one for Easter that broke almost immediately. We could not find a better bike in the entire valley, and believe me I looked. The construction was pretty shoddy and two screws stripped the threads in the handlebars making the bike useless. Fortunately they took it back but the only bikes around were the same brand or worse in Logan, so we finally took a risk on a motorcyle bike. It didn't get great reviews but we were desperate, and he is IN LOVE with it. He had been riding Cai's old one around since Easter, which had a crushed seat I ran over in the van. We managed to bend it back but the seat kept tilting back. It worked temporarily, though until we could replace the other one.

What we've been up to besides Birthdays:

Soccer!

Came and went rather quickly. Although both the boys played this year many of the games got canceled due to the rain. Cole who had begged to play since last year suddenly ran out of enthusiasm at the first practice. It didn't take long for him to get into it again, and I think he really had fun. He was more familiar with it than Cai was so he ended up being a pretty good player. Cai improved greatly this year. His endurance was a lot better and he understood the game much better this time. He took the ball all the way down the field several times but didn't ever get a goal. It's so funny to watch at that age. It seems they just kick it right to the goalie cuz that seems to be what they should do. I guess strategy will be the focus next year.

Cole's Preschool Graduation:

Cole is moving on to kindergarten next year so this will be his last year at Billye Sue's. He is so excited. And I must say so am I. It was a little rough when Cai went into first grade. They are so close and Cole got pretty stir crazy. Not to mention the fact that Cate will now be in preschool leaving me with four entire hours a week to myself. I am making a vow to spend it painting!

We had a friend of mine from high school come stay the weekend with us. It was fun to spend some time with her family. We went to the Zoo and they had the "Friends of Willow Park Zoo" kids Fair so that was fun there was crafts and games for the kids, and then that evening we went to the Demolition Derby at the Fair grounds. My kids just love them. They had a great time and we watched a car get flipped over right in front of us. They couldn't stop talking about it. It was really fun to catch up and spend time getting to know each other again.

Cai had his first year of Baseball this year also. He is really into it more so than any other sport he has tried before. He used to complain about soccer and basketball, but he is really loving baseball. He is doing really well too, he played first base for a few games and his coach has even been pitching to him. Hopefully his interest isn't short lived.

Chris and I have been working our butts off to get the backyard gazebo and patio done. We had to get that done before we can get the rest of the yard tilled up and ready for grass. It is so nice to have a place to put the grill for now and enjoy the waterfall! I think our neighbors have gotten more out of it than we have up to this point. I can't wait to get things put back together back there. We are probably going to wait on the deck and driveway to the back garage until next year. We ended up getting a new hot tub for a great price for Chris' father's day present. Bullfrog had a factory direct tent sale at the Lee's in Logan. We really needed to get that first before we build the deck. We had a pad poured underneath the covered area in back and then we'll build a deck around it so that it is sunken in. The kids are having a ball. I thik they're in there about 3 times a day along with all their friends. But they haven't asked to go to the aquatic center once this summer!

Then at long last I finally finished the tile in the downstairs bathroom and the glass tile and hearthstones around the fireplace in the family room! Now I just have to paint it. Although I did finally get the walls in the dining room and the walls down to the basement all touched up. It made such a difference, I can't believe it took me so long. Now next on the project list is getting the game room/downstairs kitchen decorated. I have been searching for inspiration forever, and finally found what I had been looking for. We wanted it to look kinda retro urban loungeish. Which sounds a little odd but I really have it all figured out in my head. The real challenge is finding art deco decor to match, but I finally found the perfect prints for the walls! They're vintage 30's jazz club posters. They have female lounge singers on the front advertising different Jazzclubs in New York and Chicago. Just picture a look like the movie/musical Chicago. Chris LOVES that show, and I knew these were perfect for the theme we were going for. I just can't believe I found them. They even have a rusty orange color that matches the stained concrete down there to a "T." Then we want to make a lamp to go over the future pool table (now air hockey table) that looks like these lamps that were all over the set of the last Norah Jones concert we went to. They look like huge drum lamp shades with different colored pendant things that hang around the drum. So they'll be reds and oranges. I love it when plans I've had in my head for years begin to materialize.

Funny and Freaky Photo's

For your enjoyment, and my own I wanted to compile all of our goofy and down right scary looking photos. So enjoy!

You gotta zoom in on this one to get the yuck factor.

This classis was hiding in the background of a birthday party pic!

After fearlessly diving in, he actually came up happy (2nd photo)

Note to DCFS: this is an optical illusion, I do not make it a habit of hanging my kids off cliffs for a photo.

The living dead? Or just compromised genes. Probably the later.

He's Finally 30!

Well at long last I am no longer married to a twenty year old. I don't often get the chance to be the one cracking "old" jokes, so I may revel in this occassion a little too much. Yes I am older, but still I just gotta rub it in a little. Some trips down memory lane, this is Chris at 19! Doesn't he look like a baby! We actually picked up my wedding dress on that trip.








And now a decade later!





We took the kids down to Moab to go camping for Chris' B-Day and we all had a blast. We tried to camp but a sudden rainstorm freaked us out when we arrived so we hurried and made hotel reservations, then the rain stopped an hour later. It sprinkled during the night on Saturday, but that was about it. We wished we wouldn't have jumped the gun on a hotel, but that storm came so hard and fast, and while Chris was calling around most hotels only had a few rooms left! The rest of the trip was beautiful. We did some easy hikes, took a hummer ride and had dutch oven chocolate cherry cobbler on the bank of the colorado river for his "Birthday Cake." We figured a campfire would be more appropriate instead of candles, because lets face it it's about the same effect at his age (JK). I'm glad we got away though, with soccer and t-ball games on the way camping may be a little tough for a while. If you want pics of the rest of the party go here.

EASTER!

I found this video on the LDS Church website. I loved to so much I had to haul my computer to church on sunday so I could share it with my Laurel class.



I can't believe that Easter has come and gone the calendar confirms it, however the weather and my internal calendar just seems a bit off. I usually am anticipating spring so much I can hardly wait, but this year, I really don't want to tackle all of our outdoor projects. It just seems we have barely wrapped up the inside ones. I really can't wait to have it done, I'm just running out of steam to do it myself. In fact I am ashamed to admit I just noticed a Christmas garland outside that has not yet been removed. I keep thinking I would get to it but the ladder has been in the extra garage surrounded by mud. Shameful! To still have Christmas decor up AFTER Easter! A perfect illustration of the state of affairs at our house though. Oh well, enough whinning lets talk about Easter!


We had two visitors come to stay with us. The top picture is Easter loot they scored from Uncle Gabewhen he came about a week ago. The second pic is what Grandma Guymon brought for Easter (a dress and doll for Cate and street hockey gear for the boys). Much to our kids delight they are doomed to be spoiled. They are the only grandkids on the Guymon side so it gets rather ridiculous, although they would never complain. While Grandma was here we had projects to do of course she is a great sport about helping watch the kids, and helping in the manual labor department as well. Every holiday has been tainted with one project or another this year, but Grandma had fun with the kids while Chris and I painted his Logan office and I tiled the downstairs tub surround. The kids were in desperate need of new bikes, so Chris and I got the kids some new ones since their birthdays are still a ways off, I don't think they would have let us wait another minute. In fact Coley declared he would not ride his "little bike" to school ANYMORE! I admit it was way too small for him, but we thought bikes for Christmas would have been a little bittersweet since they couldn't ride them till spring anyways. I guess the cheapskate in me has to apply a big toy purchase to some sort of holiday! Cai got a big 20 inch bike with handlebrakes and a kickstand those were about his only requirements since every picture of any bike he loved. Cole just wanted a big bike so he got one with flames all over it, and Cate (if you haven't guessed already) wanted a princess bike with a basket. We couldn't even wait for the big day to give them their bikes. We ordered them in and I had to go pick them up so I took the kids with me, and they were so excited to see them. Cole nearly wanted to ride it right through the store. I figured since it was supposed to rain the rest of the weekend I would let them ride on them while the weather was good on Friday.

Easter morning was really fun, Cai came into my room at 6 a.m. I told him we would go out and look at baskets at 7:30. So Cai crawled in bed by me and proceeded to ask me if it was 7:30 yet every 15 minutes. They had already received their big gift so the baskets were mostly small toys a DVD and candy, but they were ecstatic nonetheless. The Easter bunny had a great idea this year by the way, each kid was assigned two colors of eggs to hunt for so that each kid got exactly the same number of eggs and the Easter Bunny could hide them according to how old they were (i.e. easy spots or harder spots). We'll have to remember that for next year. We picked up some really cute wind up toys from a store in New Zealand called Catch & Kiss, they're all metal and mechanical so the kids can see how they work. Cai's is called Pintacuda and Cole's is called Sparklz. Cai's walks like a bouncy bug and Cole's spins and makes sparks. The boys loved them and so did we. You can see them and more at Kikkerland.

Somehow we had a bit of a Swedish food fest on Sunday I didn't realize until later that we had Swedish pancakes with lingonberry preserves for breakfast, and Swedish hamballs for dinner. Maybe it was one of those subconcious things.

Colitis checkup :(

I knew I was in for a talking to at this checkup. I made the dumb move of stopping my meds for a few weeks after the colitis was in remission. And sure enough it came back with a vengeance. Then just as I was getting it back under control with my meds again, we left for NZ and I left my meds sitting on the bathroom counter of my mother-in-laws. The colitis really punished me the first few days of our trip, and it was hopeless to have the prescription called in since the pharmacist there had never even heard of Lialda or Mesalamine, it's generic name. He gave me some over the counter meds and I took a constant dose of 800 mg. Ibuprofen to keep the swelling down, but still did not have a happy tummy.
To make matters worse the doctor pulled the good news I felt I had gotten after my last colonoscopy out from under me. The nurse called after that one and said that they had not found any biopsies showing dysplaysia. The first colonoscopy I had some biopsies that were indefinite for dysplaysia (pre-cancerous abnormal cell growth), the indefinite means there was something going wrong in cell growth but they couldn't confirm or deny if it was dysplaysia. Well since the second colonoscopy showed none of the biopsies as having any type of dysplaysia, I guess I had figured the first biopsies must have been fine, since it is more difficult to diagnose during an active phase of the disease. So I took the clear biopsies last time as an indication that since I was in remission, they would be more accurate and all was well. But apparently that was not the case. My doctor said that he has always taken the maximum numer of biopsies for each colonoscopy, but you can't sample the entire colon, it just isn't possible. So just because he didn't sample an area with dysplasia (definite or indefinite) this time does not mean that it wasn't there in the first place or isn't there still. They just didn't catch it in a biopsy. He also warned that one pathologist to another could have very different opinions about a sample. To one pathologist they would be less concerned or more concerned about a sample it is VERY subjective. Then he started drawing timelines again for me on a pad of paper showing the progression of colitis all the way over to cancer. Putting me about in the middle, but cautioning me that my colitis seems to be more aggressive than he would typically expect for a patient with my duration of the disease. So no matter what I would HAVE to take my meds all the time, I can lessen my dosage a bit during remissions, but never go off it completely. Because the more my colon stays inflammed the greater my cancer risks are.
So I am just trying not to freak out too bad, I am not there yet. There is so much I can do to take better care of myself, I just can't get too complacent again. I feel like such a baby for feeling so sorry for myself all over again. I have so much to be grateful for. Some people have U.C. so bad they can barely function or have to go on hard core steroids, and my meds have been working. It just sucks to have your mortality thrown in your face every three months. You feel like you're living with a ticking time bomb inside you're body. You don't know when it's going to blow or if it even will. And just getting used to the ups and downs and mention of yourself so close to the "C" word. Watching the doctors fearful expressions and the nurses being extra nice to you as you come out of the examination room. You don't know if you're just imagining it all because you're scared, or just desperate for any clue of how scared should I be about my situation. I ask about percentages and likelyhoods, to find some gauge, but at the end of the day all I can do is the best I can to take care of myself. My next colonoscopy is the 4th of June, so hopefully that will shed a little more light on this confusing and complicated disease. So I guess I'll just take it one test at a time. We didn't come here to Earth to know what the next day will bring, just the reassurance that whatever comes along we are not alone. I have been given some great promises through answers to prayer and all I can do is have faith in that plan for me. Thanks for your prayers, sorry for being such a blubbering idiot. I don't think I have any filters when my emotions get the best of me (or anytime actually), so I just write and write and write. Some kind of therapy maybe I don't know. But I'll keep ya'll posted

Cheerio Mates! We are back in the states!

Well I've never had a worse case of jet lag, but it is great to be home. We had a couple of rough flights getting back, alot of turbulence, crying babies, and a rough landing in SLC. But we made it! I gained about 5 pounds in a week so I guess I'll be hitting the gym hard, but I have to say it was worth it. The food was great. The best fish and chips I've ever had in my life, and tons of outdoor activities to do! I just am not in the mood to catch up on laundry, grocery shopping, and paying the bills, but life goes on unfortunately. For pics of the trip visit our travel blog here.

Don't know what you got until it's gone!

And it was a total piece of crap! I'm talking about our old computer may it rest in piece. We got a sweet deal on on a new Sony all in one PC from Best Buy, and I'm loving it! I had no idea how difficult life was with our old one. I had been swearing our next computer would be an IMac, but hey we all have to compromise, and ANYTHING is better than our old one. I mean we got it when we were first married and that was nearly ten years ago!

So bring on the posts. We have been slaving away on our new wood floor, so many things have gone by the wayside: laundry, posting, supervising my children, cooking, jsut to name a few. But I actually think it was worth it. I am loving our new floor in the living room and upstairs addition. We finally have been able to move in! Our contractors probably loved installing baseboards around our couches and piano, but hey we were a little anxious.

To catch up:

Fun in the Snow!

Okay we have been crazy busy but we had to get outside a play a bit, just so my kids didn't forget who their mommy was. We had a ton of fun making snow men, and having a snowball fight. Here are the kiddos with their snowman family.

Welcome Home Uncle Nic! And Welcome into our Home!

Well about a month ago my brother came home from an LDS mission in Eugene Oregon. The kids were very excited to see Uncle Nic. We were even more excited that he was going to come stay with us until September while he finishes up his Associates at BATC. Which will be really fun, to have the kids get to know Nic a little better. And even me, he was only 6 when I last lived at home so besides family get togethers, I haven't come to really know Nic as an adult as well as my younger sisters.

Cate and Friends

I just had to include some pics of Cate and her cute little friend Sienna. We have started to get them together to play, since they are so close in age, and so similar. I can't believe Cate is now old enough to go play at friends houses, and have them come here. I am not liking my baby grow up so fast. It was pretty cute though both girls have curly blonde hair and when Sienna came to play the other day she was wearing a jacket exactly like the one Cate had on earlier that day. So I had to get a pic, and also got them making butterfly cookies in their dress up clothes. It so SO DIFFERENT watching two little girls play. They are so darn cute, and SO GIRLY. It is all about princesses, fairies, and baby dolls with Cate.