Christmas 2013

This year Santa sent an Elf to our house that we named Tink. Through out the month of December Tink would do silly things around our house and the girls would find her in a new spot every morning. The girls loved it and I enjoyed watching their excitement every morning looking for Tink. Thanks Santa for sending Tink to our house, we are hoping she will make special birthday appearances to remind the girls that she is still watching them. I also receiving the mother of the year award because I didn't get any picture of our Christmas day with the girls opening their presents. Brinley and Kenzley got bunk beds that they had asked for with new bedding and some toys they had asked for. Skyeley was spoiled with a Doc McStuffins check up center, a new kitchen, and some learning toys. We had a wonderful Christmas spent with our family. This year my work Christmas party was at Weber State Bowling Alley. We met there and ate lunch and then went bowling. We also had an ugly Christmas sweater competition and I am proud to say that my ugly duck dynasty sweater won the grand prize.

Also for Christmas my work does something we call the Grinch where we decorate each others desk for Christmas like a secret santa thing. I was spoiled this year and I love the shirt I got to give my Grinch. I also found out later that she loved the shirt so much and has actually worn it to the gym while she is working out.

 

And last but not least I had gone out for the day the Saturday before Christmas and I left Mike at home with the kids. I suggested to Brinley and Kenzley that they ask their dad if they could decorate their gingerbread men. Mike, being the wonderful dad that he is, decided to let the girls decorate their men, but the girls had another plan in mind. They decided to have a "food fight" with the candy instead of decorating with it. I got home to two very upset girls and a fuming husband. It's the memories, right?

Kenzley gets her tonsils out

As many already know Kenzley has been a sick child most of her life. We haven't been able to figure out what is wrong with her. She has had almost every test done that the doctors could think of and the only thing we can come up with is something called periodic fever syndrome. There is no rhyme or reason to what causes high fevers but their bodies will just fever really high, leaving the child lethargic, tired, and not feeling well. Our last appointment at PCMC with the specialist Dr Hirsh we discussed taking out Kenzley's tonsils and testing the lymph node tissue around her tonsils for cancer. The thought made this mommy nervous for days, in fact they wanted to schedule Kenzley the following Monday for tonsil removal. I wasn't quite prepared, I wanted some more time to ponder it and really get myself together for all the possibilities. I decided to have Kenzley's tonsils removed while they were out of school over the thanksgiving break. Dr Hirsh said that sometimes by removing the tonsils it will also get rid of the fevers because the tonsils can have infection in them that never presents as strep. So we were hoping to kill two birds with one stone with removing her tonsils. To test for cancer and to get rid of the fevers, the only down fall is if Kenzley's body decides to fever after the tonsils are out we will be doing a bone marrow biopsy. Kenzley was very nervous for surgery and her dad wasn't able to get off work to be there with us but her Grandma was there to help us out. Kenzley got to choose a special stuffed animal to keep and got to take her favorite blanket with her as she was wheeled away. We were told that when she was done they would come and get us from the waiting room. Needless to say they didn't need to come get us, we could hear her screaming from a mile away. I quickly went back to see if I could help calm her down but she was mad because they were trying to get her to take "yucky medicine" (lortab). We tried everything we could to get her to take it but she wasn't having it and the nurse was really worried about her pain level because she was screaming and wouldn't take the medicine. Finally after some more sleep in recovery, a popsicle, and a new palace pet on the ipad, Kenzley took the lortab. That is the only time she would take it the whole time she was recovering. She told me at one point, "I would rather be in pain, than take that gross medicine." We made it through the week and she was back to school the following Monday. Here is hoping we may have cured Kenzley for good!

So You Think You Can Dance Tour

November 15, 2013 Mike and I went to the So You Think You Can Dance Tour with his parents and youngest sister Liddy. We all love watching the show and it was even better in person. We were able to see all the dancers and the dances well from our seats and even snapped some great pictures. I think next time we will take our oldest two girls. They love dancing so much and I think they would really enjoy going to this.

Disney on Ice Passport Adventure

November 9, 2013 we went to Disney on Ice passport adventures. Mike knows how important it is to me to keep this tradition alive with my girls and we make it a point to go to both shows twice a year. He surprised me with tickets to the show and unfortunately Brinley was not able to go with us this weekend, so Kenzley was able to take her friend, Lavea from school, and her cousin Lily. Even though I think it was hard for Kenzley to be there without Brinley she did enjoy her time with her friends. They all were so cute, got along well, and enjoyed the show. We got to see Peter Pan, Lion King, Lilo and Stitch, and Ariel. After we were done we went to lunch at City Creek with Lavea and her parents and did some shopping at the Disney store.

Halloween 2013

 

Our Halloween was very busy in 2013 but also very fun. Kenzley and I decorated the pumpkin we got from Black Island Farms at a pink girl minion. We had a fun Halloween manicure and pedicure day where I painted the girls' fingernails with ghosts on their hands and Frankenstein on their toes. I volunteered in both girls' class Halloween parties. We played Halloween bingo and did a spider ring toss and then each child got to choose a fun Halloween toy out of the Halloween box. At my work we do something called a spook and I did the zombie would letter set for her and decorated her desk. Ariel had me and she did a cute set of shoes and decorated my desk with my favorite candies. This year for Halloween Brinley was Ariel and the shoes hurt her feet and gave her blisters, Kenzley was wedding Rapunzel and she loved being a bride, and Skyeley was a BYU cheerleader. We had a ward Halloween party, but I forgot to get pictures of it. This was our first year trick-or-treating alone as a family and is was a lot of fun. Mike even got in on the action and the kids got lots of candy. The older girls were really good about taking Skyeley's bucket to the door with them and getting her candy. For our Halloween dinner I made spider plates and found eyeball goblets. We had worms and brains for dinner and blood to drink. I also made some bone breadsticks to go along with our dinner. The kids loved eating something "creepy" for dinner.

Black Island Farms 2013

 

In October Kenzley, Skyeley, and I were able to go to Black Island Farms with two of my friends and their children. We had so much fun there and the kids all got a long for the most part. The kids loved going down all the slides, we were going to do the hot air balloon but it was having problems so we decided not to take the risk. We all got some huge pumpkins and were able to get an extra for Brinley since she couldn't be with us.

Light the Night Leukemia walk

On October 12, 2013 Victoria and I got to participate in the light the night walk for leukemia with our dear friend Erika Te. Erika was diagnosed with leukemia in 2012 and we have been fortunate enough to be with her throughout her journey. I took Kenzley with me and she enjoyed all the cool light up things she got to walk with. Erika walked the whole way despite being in pain and tired. She had just gotten out of the hospital a few days before the walk and surprised us all with her courage and strength. We love you Erika!

Brinley's Ariel Party

On October 5, 2013 we had Brinley's 7th birthday party. Unfortunately we did not have a lot of friends at this party because I can't address envelopes the right way. Brinley ended up with two friends at her party from school, the invitations she just handed out were the people she came. EPIC fail as a mom. Once the guests arrived we made seashell friendship bracelets. Once everyone had their bracelets made we played ocean limbo. Everyone did great and got to go really low. Once they were done with the limbo the girls went on a treasure hunt to find their gift bags. I had placed clues around the yard to help them find their next clue. At the end was a treasure box filled with goody bags and each girl got to choose their own ariel goody bag. Once they were done we went inside for cake and ice cream and the girls got to play for a while. I am so thankful that her friend's parents were willing to drive their children up to our house.

Brinley's 1st grade field trip to the zoo

On October 2, 2013 Mike and I had the opportunity to chaperone Brinley's first grade field trip. It was a lot of fun. We had 3 kids in our group including Brinley, a boy named Kayden, and a boy named Kaydence. They were a really great group and a lot of fun. They all stayed together and were very engaged in seeing the animals. Mike and I decided since we had the coolest group of kids that we would buy them a ticket to go on the carousel ride. They were all surprised when Mike snuck off to buy tickets and showed them what they got to do before we left.

Luke Bryan Concert

In September Mike and I had the opportunity to go see Luke Bryan in concert with his parents. Florida Georgia Line came and opened for him along with Thompson Square. The concert was awesome and Luke Bryan looked better than ever, the venue however was awful and we ended up being a little late to the concert because of it. I don't know that we will go see another concert at that venue again, but I am glad we went to this one.

Hooper Tomato Days Beauty Pagent

I am still trying to play catch up from last year so I can get our family year book printed. Last August Kenzley and Skyeley had the opportunity to participate in the Hooper Tomato Days Beauty Pagent. Skyeley won cutest dimples and Kenzley didn't win anything because she was too shy. She did make a new friend though. I am proud of both of these beautiful girls.