ELI'S BAPTISM!

I may or may not have been stressing over this day since we went to the "It's Great to be 8" meeting. My boy needed a good looking suit, he needed a special day to remember, I needed to have all the yummy food there and I really wanted to make sure he had a good support system - he ended up with about 80  people in attendance.

First thing first - got the suit - then got it altered. Then Eli picked his program with a little help from his mom and dad. Then it was time to take pictures for the invitations - Jon did such a great job for us! He is so handsmee!







Then it was on to making the video and gathering all the decorations and centerpieces - Thanks Richelle and Regina for all the help!






















Finally food time! Street Tacos!!! Uncle Norm Germaine and Cara really saved us! She took me shopping to the Mexican market in Mesa and we got everything we needed and then he cooked it all for us. They loaned us table and chairs and when he came over during the baptism to drop off stuff - he saw that a string of lights had fallen and he hurried and hung it back up for me so that everything was perfect. Love them!

We had Street tacos with carne asada, cilantro, onions, cheese, mini tortillas, limes, bean dip, cilantro rice, chips and salsa, sodas, water bottles, cupcakes, m & m cookies, donuts in the shape of the #8, rainbow colored licorice, cake pops, rainbow swirly suckers - it was fantastic and everyone loved it.

I get crazy ideas in my head and when I do - I don't stop until it's done - my parents and Jared hate it :) Now the baptism was at 1pm but I wanted these fun party lights strung across my backyard - funny part is no one could even see them cause it was day time but it didn't matter to me. In order to have these lights I had to get an electrician to come out and install an outlet for me. I found one, he did it and then he fell through my ceiling - that's right - he stepped off a beam and went right through it - now there was a big hole into my attic from the patio! Friday night - the night before - I had people outside patching it and painting it until 10pm so it would be all fixed - which was fine they were there that late because I was still working on setting up and getting everything ready.





The morning came and Eli was so excited to be baptized! We were so happy for him. The baptism was perfect and I wouldn't change a thing. Stephanie and Kati sang a beautiful version of "I Am a Child of God" and it really brought the spirit into the room - I remember looking over and seeing Grandma Joyce and Richelle with tears rolling down there face. Sister Kearsley taught Eli and the other kids about being clean and dirty like pennies and they got to come up and try - they loved it.

After the baptism everyone came back over to our house to eat. Then after they all left it was off to the twin's baseball game and then Eli's baseball game. It was a perfect day for Eli and one I hope he will remember always.

 

 Uncle Nathan thought it was really cool to see all the doves up on the Stake Center and the meaning behind them as he was heading over to our house - thank you for taking a picture!

ELI TURNS 8!

My boy turns 8 - how is he old enough to be baptized?! Yikes! For his birthday I got to take him out to breakfast and then we went shopping together for his Halloween costume - I loved being able to spend some alone time with him. After that we had his birthday party with his friends. We made it a sports birthday party which is very fitting for him. We played soccer and flag football. Jared and I were the refs! Then after we played sports we headed back to our house were we had a concession stand for lunch - nachos, pretzels, popcorn, sodas and snow cones. Then we opened presents and the party was over. Eli had a blast and that's what mattered. The Saturday before we got ice cream sandwiches for his soccer team and they sang Happy Birthday to him after their tournament that weekend. Eli got ASU apparel and some tickets to the ASU vs Washington State football game. During the game while we were losing Eli was getting phyiscally ill over it - he is so funny how much he gets into it. That night for his birthday dinner we took the family to RYU - they kids loved the fire and watching the food be thrown.

Eli is such a sweet spirit - he really cares for others and rises to the occasion to be a leader when needed. He truly is loved by everyone, kids at school, coaches, teachers, etc. We hope he remains this tender soul throughout his whole life.

HAPPY LITTLE SIMPLE THINGS!

Today as I was having a quiet moment to myself I was just thinking how happy my life is. These 5 fart faces bring me so much joy! Love my life! That is all.

 

 

GO BIG OR GO HOME ($4K LATER)

Emma doesn't get sick very much - her warts have pretty much stopped, we did little toe surgery so she will no longer have in-grown toe nails, so its pretty much a head cold here and there, but nothing to keep her home from school. When Emma does decide to get sick or at least get something to keep her out of school - she likes to go big - 5th grade was a trip to the hospital in an ambulance because she kept passing out - and this year - well....

Monday morning August 11th - Emma woke up in tears - or rather when I woke up to wake her up for school I found her in tears saying she had been awake all night because her right boob hurt. I told her "sorry honey, but you still need to go to school." I chalked it up to growing pains and blew her off - you know - like any good mom would! ha ha.

After school as we were driving to dance she said, "mom, one boob is bigger than the other"

me: "ya that happens"

Emma: "why? why does one boob have to be bigger than the other?"

me: "Because life would be way to easy if they grew the same. Everyone's boobs get a little uneven - no biggie - no one ever even notices."

Emma: "that's dumb - but it still hurts!"

me: "ya that is pretty lame. Sorry it hurts, you just have to suck it up and get over it - it will stop eventually."

That pretty much ended it from there. Tuesday morning she woke up and I asked her how she was and she told me it still hurt, but she got some sleep. Tuesday night after she got dropped off from dance she wanted to tell me a story, but I told her she had to hurry and get ready for mutual because she was already late and that she could just change in my room and tell me her story while she got ready. So she brought her clothes in and started to tell me her story and I took a little sneak peek at her while she was telling her story and I happen to catch a glimpse of her boob - Holy swollen and red boob batman! I asked her to come over right then and I touched it - it was very warm to the touch - now I knew it wasn't growing pains she had been having. I asked her how long it had been like that she said it started Sunday night. So I told her that was weird and sent her off to mutual. Then I went back home and called Jared who was at his own mutual and I told him it was not right and something was wrong. After discussing this is Jared and Stephanie and then calling her on-call pediatrician - we decided she needed to go to urgent care right away and the doctor suggested Phoenix Children's Urgent care since they specialized in children.

So we grabbed Emma from mutual and I took her over there - I was still in workout clothes because I had just finished running before Jared left for mutual and I was only planning on us being at urgent care for a bit, getting our antibiotics and then going home -maybe 2 hours later - tops!

We get to urgent care, the nice doctor came in and asked Emma to show her and Emma was quite embarrassed and then the doctor assured her there was nothing to be embarrassed about and that she had her own boobs too - so we were in good company. As soon as she looked at it she knew something was wrong and told us we needed to go to the ER right then.She wasn't sure what it was but because of the location and the fact that Emma hasn't been through puberty yet - there was no reason she should look like that.

So we got in the car and headed off to Phoenix Children's Hospital. We called Jared on the way and he got my mom to come over to the house to watch the boys because we didn't know how long it was going to be and then while my mom was on her way - Cara Germaine - came over and sat with the boys who were now in bed.

Jared met us at PCH and brought me clean clothes and a few things and then hung out with us for a very long time. The ER doctor looked at her and wasn't sure what was causing it either and didn't like the location so he admitted us for the night. We decided the best option was for Jared to go home and relieve my mom so he could handle the school thing in the morning.
 
Waiting to for the ER doctor to make a decision...
 
 You know you have been there for a while when you aren't even in your room yet and you have now seen, "Monsters University" "Lion King" and we are on our 3rd Disney movie "Little Mermaid"

We finally got our room at 2am - and not just any room - no we were in an isolation room - because they didn't know what bacterial infection Emma had and they didn't want to spread it to anyone and they didn't want her to get anything else. You know you are going to be there a while when they put your name on the door next to the gowns and gloves everyone is going to be using...
 
We didn't sleep much that night - everyone kept coming in and checking on Emma.

The next day Emma met with a doctor, who then decided she needed to see a doctor in charge - he came in with 8 students, then we met with a surgeon, then he sent in the surgeon in charge. They all decided that they wanted to wait a day and see what happened on the high does of antibiotics they were sending through her IV - they were really hoping that would do the trick and if not - then they would have to do surgery and go in and remove it - but they wanted to avoid that because they didn't want to mess with her milk ducts, leave an ugly scar on her boob and then it was getting into the chest cavity area, lungs, etc. She was in great spirits the whole time - I was bored. She was really uncomfortable for the first 2 days having to show everyone her boob - when the 9 doctors were in the room at the same time - the one doctor asked 7 of them to leave - leaving just me, Emma and 3 doctors in there to make her more comfortable. Let's just say by the last day, Emma didn't care who wanted to see - she was over the awkwardness of it and flashed who ever asked!

 Waiting for her ultrasound

We had to entertain ourselves some how - they had a sweet teen game room there, but she wasn't allowed out of her room, so we watched movie, after movie, after movie, made fun of everyone who had to gown up and glove up to come in our room - even the poor food servers couldn't even come in - she ordered food all day long after she was cleared for no surgery and then we took some hospital bed selfies.

Denise brought the boys a great home made dinner and then after they ate dinner that night they came up and visited us. The boys made Emma some of the sweetest cards ever. Emma was even lucky to have her dad bring her homework - thanks dad!

"I hope you you feel better. Come home safe. We love you. I like you dancing and you never give up on your dreams. Love, Eli"


"I hope you feel better and come home soon! Love Tyler"

"Love Tyson double heart to you Emma"
"I hoap you kum home to tomarrow. Love Tyson."

The next day all the doctors came in one by one again and they decided she would not need surgery after all. The medicine was working. They released us and we got to go home. She had to see her pediatrician the next day so he could feel and look at her boob so that a week later he could look again and make sure all was better and if not, then surgery it would be. She was on meds at home round the clock every 8 hours exactly.

In the end, it was a great time - $4,000 and she is better. We sure do love this girl and are grateful it ended up being nothing seriously bad - but next time she gets sick we are hoping a trip to the doctor will do the trick and no more hospital visits!! Sheesh.

TWO RANDOM PICTURES!

These pictures have nothing to do with anything, but they make me happy! Here is a cute picture of all my boys gathered around Grandpa Rodgers...

Here is a picture of Eli - he was all ready for church so he grabbed his Book of Mormon and just sat on the couch and started reading it while he waited for the rest of us to finish getting ready!

100 YEAR FLOOD!

Arizona doesn't have snow days, tornado evacuations, earthquake drills, etc - but when it rains 5 inches over night - our city comes to stand still and life just got a little bit more fun that day! Chandler Schools decided not to take attendance today and said only come to school if you can come safely - otherwise - stay home! We could have gone to school safely no problem - but since I have been going to school for 30 years in Arizona and we never got a day like this - we had to take advantage of it and stay home and play! The news called this "the 100 year flood"! Hope the kiddos enjoyed this day in history!

Here is the greenbelt next to our house while it is still raining - look how high it comes up to Tyson.

Yes, Tyler is being held in every picture - he thought the grass felt to weird to walk in so he refused to do it and made Emma carry him :)