Beach Day!

It has been HOT here- like yesterday when it was 90 degrees, they called it a cold front- HOT. So for Park Day today we went to the beach!

I have never been to the Chatfield Beach before, and let me just say: we will be getting a pass for next summer! This place was so fantastic- and the best part was that hardly anybody was there! It's like the best kept secret!









I can not believe how much fun the girls had! OK, Claire slept for much of the time and barely let me put her down until just before we left, but Audra had the most fun! One of her friends had this innertube she let Audra use, and Audra just went back and forth across the lake forever. We will definitely be buying her one of these tubes!
And, I am just going to give a huge shout out to all the ladies who bring their kids and join us for park day!!! We are not an exclusive group- anybody is invited! I just send out a weekly e-mail with the name of a park and we get together. If you want to join, e-mail me and I will put you on the list.
Anyway, it is so WONDERFUL for me to be able to get with these women and relax (unless we are chasing kids and keeping them from killing themselves) and talk. I am so incredibly grateful to have such wonderful friends, and I feel incredibly blessed. Also, the fact that our kids absolutely LOVE each other and get so excited to see each other is just fantastic. I wish we could have our little play group forever- do our kids really need to grow up????

Here are some more pictures of our Park Days this summer:

Doing Cartwheels

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I am so excited I can't stand it: My Dad's CAT scan came back and it looks like STAGE 1!!!! Possibly stage 2, but NOT stage 3 or 4!!!

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What does that mean??

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It means the cancer has not spread and that there will be

NO CHEMO!!!!!!!!

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He may have to have some radiaton, and he will definitely have to have surgery, so he still has a ways to go before he is cancer-free, but because he caught it so early, there is a

93% survival rate!!!!!

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I just KNEW my dad would scare that cancer away!!!!!!

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Now we're praying the surgery will go well and the doctor will get the entire tumor out. And celebrating LIFE and JUMPING UP AND DOWN and SHOUTING FOR JOY and COUNTING OUR BLESSINGS and THANKING OUR MERICFUL FATHER IN HEAVEN!!!!

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It's not over, but it is sure a GREAT day!

Joining A Club

Yesterday, we found out that my Dad joined a club.

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This is a prestigious club- the likes of which Lance Armstrong, Colin Powell, Ronald Raegan, Sheryl Crow, and Melissa Ethridge have joined.

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Also on the list are names you may not know, but some of my friends also are in this club: Angie, Libby, Shauna and Heather. I am sure every one of you knows somebody who has joined this club.

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This club requires bravery. This club only accepts the strongest of the strongest. Whimps need not apply, as you will not get along here amongst these heroes in our world.

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Nobody wants to be in this club. Nobody asks to be in this club. But, famous or homely, young or old, boy or girl- anyone at anytime may be asked to join this club.

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The club I am referring to is the cancer club.

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Yesterday, we found out my Dad has colon cancer.

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Cancer.

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I HATE that word. It is disgusting, evil, filled with malice- coming to attack when one least expects it. Certainly it must be the most filthy word in the entire English language.

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Being in this club, he will be surrounded with the most inspirational and beautiful people in the world. He will fit right in.

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My dad is a fighter. I don't think he has ever been sick a day in his life...until now. And now he is in for the fight of his life.

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I don't know about you, but I am ready to see him beat this horrible thing up and kick it to the curb!!!! I want him to crush this piece of crap into absolute rubble, then stomp on it, punch it in the face, and LAUGH at it.

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I expect the cancer will be so incredibly scared of my dad it will run away in tears, never to return and attempt to take over his body again.

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To be honest, I'm scared. We're all scared. But, I have known my dad for a long time and I have always known him to be the strongest, bravest, greatest man I have ever known. And I have a feeling, the best of him is yet to come.

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Prayers for he and my mom are appreciated.

New Spice

If you went to BYU (even for one semester) you have to watch this- and if you didn't, you will still find it funny even though it isn't your college library. This is funny!

Claire Turns One!

Last Friday- while in Logan- Claire turned ONE! She didn't seem to notice, though, which was good because we didn't really celebrate her actual Birthday.

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Before we left for Logan, we got together with Ben's family (my parents and siblings were invited, but none of them came- I'm not sure why...) to celebrate.

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We went to a Mexican restaurant for dinner- one we had never been to before. It was pretty good, and we had a great time.

After dinner, we went back to our place for cake and presents.

I made the same cake I made for Audra- a homemade carrot cake with lots of healthy ingredients like wheat germ and sunflower seeds. Audra LOVED her cake, but Claire- not so much. Basically she just tore it apart and threw it on the floor. Oh, well.

At the restaurant, Claire just wanted to walk around. She is REALLY getting around now! She started walking a little later than Audra, but she got proficient at walking MUCH faster. It's so funny, because everytime I see her walking I think, "but you're too LITTLE to be walking!" All goes back to her being so dang cute.

Now for her stats:

Height: 30.5 inches, 62%

Head Circumference (who REALLY cares about this stat???): 17.5, 31%

Weight: 17 lbs 10.5 oz, 5%

Umm...did you notice that weight percentage??? You read that right- FIFTH percentile! She has been around 40% or something, so I was like- WHAT?!? But, the doctor was not overly concerned-she said it is very common for babies' weight to drop when they start walking and simply said we just need to give her more calories each day. She said everything we are doing is perfect, so we are going to add one or two more snacks throughout the day and try to give her more dairy (because she is only nursing once a day but does not yet want a bottle of regular milk- the doctor wasn't even concerned about that, though, since I give her lots of yogurt and cheese to make up for it). At any rate, she is healthy and happy, so I won't stress too much over it since the doctor isn't at all worried. I do need to take her back in three months just to make sure she is gaining. I can't very well get her to stop walking, though, so I guess we just need to pump her with healthy but calorie filled food!

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She can now say "Audra"- much to the delight of her older sister! Audra LOVES Claire so incredibly much. Claire will sit on Audra's head, pull her hair, lay down on top of her, and Audra just laughs and laughs and laughs. It is really cute.

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I am trying to think of new things to add about Claire, but she is doing great in everything and there isn't anything new to report since I pretty much put everything on this blog anyway. We sure are grateful to have Claire in our lives, though!!! We love her soooooooo much!!!!!

Girls Weekend. With kids. And some husbands. So not really a girls weekend, but still a lot of fun.

Last Thursday I took on a suicide mission.
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I decided to drive to Logan, UT with Claire by myself. What was I thinking, you ask? Good question.
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I was thinking I need to take advantage of the opportunitites I have to see old friends- especially ones who have had such an important and life-changing impact on my life. The opportunities are so rare, I know I need to take them when I can. So when my college roommates decided it was time for us to get together again, I decided to go- regardless of the cost.
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And it was well worth it! There were 6 of us who lived together in college for 3 or 4 years, but established a bond that I am certain will last forever. It is harder with kids, but that's just the way life goes. And none of us would have it any other way.
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Claire was actually incredibly good for the drive. It is about 9 hours with the stops we took to Logan. She cried for about 2 hours off and on, but nothing uncontrollable. I purposely left incredibly early (5 AM) in the hopes she would sleep for a little longer. It worked on the way to Logan.
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Anyway, as usual- it was wonderful being with my old roommates. They are awesome! Plus, I got to meet their kids. They all have 1, all about age 2. I have 2 kids, with Claire being 1 (her Birthday was on Friday- what could be better than spending it on a roadtrip with strangers?). Claire was the youngest of the kiddo group.
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Claire was pretty much petrified the entire time. She has Ben's personality- she is overly shy and overwhelmed and completely out of sorts around strangers. She has a hard time warming up to them. Whereas Audra would have been perfectly fine after 15 minutes, Claire was whiny and ill-at-ease the entire 3 days.
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But, the trip was about me being able to see my old friends, and in that respect it was absolutely wonderful. Most of the activities revolved around activities for the kids and lots of catching up. It is so cool to see where all of us have come! Before we were just young kids trying to get through college- now we're mommies trying to get through life. I love these women- and I miss the ones who were unable to come!
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We are trying to get together every 2 years. I am incredibly grateful for that, just wishing it could be even more often.
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On Friday night we left the sleeping kiddos with the husbands and went and got "fu'zookies". They were delicious, and kept us gabbing until the very late hours. I was tired the next day, but it was worth it.

These are picture of Claire on Friday, her actual Birthday. We went to a little park with a zoo and then let the kids splash in the pool. Again she was shy, but she looked so dang cute!

Thanks for the fantastic weekend ladies- I can't wait for the next one!

I LOVE Being a MOM!!!!

I LOVE staying at home with my kids. I know some women do not, but I do!!!!! I love being able to see the little things that they do everyday. I love being the one to kiss their boo-boos. I love having them help me cook. I love teaching them to fold laundry (does that make me a mean mommy?). I love going to the park with them every day. I just LOVE being with them!!!

Granted, not every moment is rosy. Far from it! But, I love those moments as well because then I am the one who teaches them discipline. Or how to share. Or how to play nice. The worst day of being a mom, is, for me, still WAY better than the best day I ever had at work. I just LOVE it!

I was reminded of that today when I captured this video. I had to sneak so they wouldn't notice me, so you can't see Claire, but you can hear her. Make sure you turn the volume up so you can hear it.

It is so sweet because yesterday as we were driving to Daddy's soccer game, I said to Claire, "Say Mama!" and Audra yelled, "NO! Don't say mama! I don't want Claire to say 'Mama'!"

So to hear Audra teaching Claire to say Mama today just stole my heart. I am so glad I was home to hear it!

Milestones

I am going to count Monday June 28th as Claire's official start of walking. This is the day where instead of taking 1-2 steps once a day, she really started walking again, and again, and again. Even though it was still just a few steps here and there, it was continuous throughout the day, so that's why I will count it as her first official day of officially walking.

Unfortunately, getting video of her walking was incredibly difficult. She would see the camera and just want that and lose her focus. But, I tried. The above video was taken on the 28th.

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The below video was taken on the 29th. She is very whiny in the video- it's because she wanted the camera, but I wanted her to walk. I am such a mean mommy, I know.

Then, I finally got around to getting Audra her 3-year check up last week. She weighs 31 lbs. and is in the 51st percentile. She is 37 inches tall and in the 61st percentile for height. Tall and skinny, that's both our girls. She got 3 more shots, but didn't mind because she got hot pink band-aids and a sticker.