Disneyland....Again!

I am a Disney fanatic! Paul and I want to quit our jobs here in Vegas and go live in CA just so I can get a job at Disneyland. Seriously! Why oh why can't Jaxon love Disney? We took most of the kids a couple weeks ago for 3 days and Jaxon was Miserable! He cried pretty much the entire trip and really put a damper on things. Everything scared him and even though we forced him on a lot of rides he still cried so nope, he doesn't get to go again for awhile.

Yes, we ARE that couple!!!



This was Jaxon's look ALL the time! He hated the rides!!

My Pretty Little Teenager

 

My pretty little girl is now a full fledged teenager. Yep, Maddie is now 13 and yep, we can ALL tell!! Watch out...moods are occurring in this household on a daily basis. Nah, I love this pretty thing tons and enjoy our conversations, going to the movies, and sharing our love of shopping together. I look forward to many more years with this wonderful daughter of mine. Happy birthday Madison Patsy!!!

Sad Post, But Crying Can Heal?!

It's amazing to sit back and recall the setbacks that can occur in your life. I have a pretty amazing life...wonderful kids, awesome hubby, a good job that I love, friends that I LOVE, family who loves me unconditionally, and pretty OK health. It takes a loved one to pass away where you really start to put life into perspective and vow to do things a bit different even though you think your life is going along fabulously.
My dad died last week. I knew it was coming, yet as I write this two weeks later, I'm feeling more distraught about his death than I thought I would be. Dad was diagnosed with throat cancer December 17. Smoking heavily for over 65 years will do that to you. Because I'm the only child that lives in Vegas I became the sole caregiver for my dad and really didn't mind doing what I had to do to help him. For 5weeks my dad did radiation daily and chemo once a week. I was amazed that he seemed to be OK after doing these treatments. He never got sick and after 2 weeks he was able to drive himself to his treatments.
I could tell at the beginning of February that these treatments were taking a toll on my dad. His weight was plummeting. He lived on Ensure that was fed thru a feeding tube because he couldn't' swallow. Having at least 6-8 Ensure's a day is beneficial to a human being, yet my dad insisted on only having 4-6. Soon he also lost his voice and could barely whisper or resorted to writing notes.
On February 15 he drove himself to the hospital due to his oxygen levels being low. His chemo doctor had requested that he go and be checked in. I was called because my dad needed to have a tube put down his throat which he was refusing. Yep, he had a DNR and I was the lucky one that had to sign off on it. Hardest day of my life!
Like me, my dad is very stubborn as I tried to tell him that I didn't have to sign this form and having a tube put in would prolong his life. He still chose not to. Four days later my dad passed away due to respiratory failure brought on by tonsillar cancer. As each day went on his health worsened and his brain just wasn't getting enough oxygen. On the day that he died my mom and I were able to tell him goodbye and let him know that we loved him. I could tell that death was near. Hospice nurses see this all the time and all of the signs were there. An hour after we left he peacefully passed away to play in heaven with his daughter Patsy and his mom/dad.
The past two weeks have been so surreal to me since you really don't plan on burying a parent. It's expected, yet who really thinks about it? My dad had a beautiful service in Kanab, UT and is buried in Mt. Carmel, UT next to his beloved mom and dad. My sis Patsy is resting peacefully 18 miles south. I planned the entire funeral (with a little bit of help from my prec...;)) and buried my dad with dignity and letting people know that MY dad was loved by many. Yes, he had his addictions and didn't have the greatest relationship with some of his sons. He even has grand kids that have never met him. Sad, I know. I loved my dad for who he was, the example he set for me whether good or bad, and am so grateful for the relationship that he had with my kids. They loved their poppa and he loved them hard. I love you dad and will always be your Krissy!!
So am I going to try and live my life differently? Yep, life is too short and I plan to take advantage of life a little bit more. Hope you can to! I'll post pictures of my dad and his awesome funeral shortly.

Disneyland Birthday

My birthday month rocked! Paul and I escaped to Disneyland by ourselves for my birthday. It was the best weekend ever! Love going with my kiddos, yet we were amazed by how much fun we actually had without them. In fact, I would definitely recommend it! Love my hubby!


We probably rode Space Mountain 100 times. It was called Ghost Galaxy and had a burning ghost chasing after you. Loved it!! Loved the girl in front of me. She looks like she's going to puke!!
Nightmare Before Christmas is my favorite set up at DLand. Love everything about it!

Mom gave me the best gift by taking care of my kiddos, yet I came home to roses and more presents from my kiddos. Maddie even made me a cake....if you want to call it that!

I'mmmmm Back!!

WOW! 2010 is gone. Can't say I'm that upset to see it leave since it's been a pretty crappy year economically. Yet, we've survived and made it, but definitely had to change our lifestyle of living and STAY on a budget. Everyone is healthy and well and I can report no serious issues with my family.
I changed my blog to private because someone hacked into my all of my accounts online and literally was making my life yucky! They stole and erased all of my contacts in my google mail accounts and were sending unwanted emails in my name to people on my email lists. Pretty sucky, but I feel confident that my blog is now safe and no more issues will occur. I'll backtrack to play catch up of what we've done since September when I last wrote a blog. I do have lots of pictures and we have done some fun things.

I wrote this in Sept. Better post it! Pics to follow!!!

Summer is gone and the fall season will be happening in less than two days. We had a great summer of doing nothing! Actually, a lot of swimming. I still can't believe how fast it went by, but it was relaxing and so nice to spend much needed quality time as a family.

Yep, I have a 17 year old child. Crazy to think that 17 years ago this 9 pound baby was born. We truly love this kid and are looking forward to the life choices he will be making soon. Scary, I know. Does he drive? NO!....you can ask him why!!!

The first week of school was HECTIC!! I have 4 kids who all go to 4 different schools. They all love their teachers and so far everything is going smoothly. Here they are on their first day!!

Tanner is a senior at Shadow Ridge HS. WOW!!

Madison is a 7th grader at Saville MS. Loves it!!

Camryn is a 1st grader at Betsy Rhodes. Yep, she's at moms school so I can keep an eye on her. ;)

Jaxon is in pre-k with Mrs. Robyn. He also goes to Heckethorn 3 times a week for speech. He is loving it.

I have a wonderful group of students this year and as much as I love to be home I also love the sweet little spirits that I get to teach for 9 months. I don't think parents realize how important their children are to their teachers. We have your kids for majority of the day, we get to mold them to what we want them to be, and we get to hear so many many funny stories. Maybe a bit more personal than what should be said, but love love my job!!

Cabin for Adults Only!!

Paul and I were able to get a weekend away from the kids. Paul's brother David has a friend who "urges" him to use his awesome cabin in Duck Creek, UT. So Paul's sister Pam and her hubby Ray, David and Ronda, and Paul and I all met up at the cabin and spent the weekend together. We had a great weekend of doing nothing. We drove up there Friday night stopping in Cedar City to eat at Sizzler. Paul's favorite. Then I saw a snow cone shack and thought I was in heaven!! Love those. I did have a scare that night when I heard something rolling around in my closet. Woke Paul up to see what it was and apparently it was an animal that had pushed open the access panel and went through the insulation to get in. We couldn't find the animal so Paul blocked up the hole. I could hear it scratching and trying to get in. Stress!
On Saturday us girls just hung out. Watched movies all day, talked, ate, and didn't even get dressed! The boys went out fishing. That evening we had a great BBQ and ate it sitting on the patio overlooking the valley. The weather was perfect maybe 75 degrees. That night we stayed up late playing Scattegories which is now my new favorite game. Was so fun. Sunday afternoon we had to go home which made me very sad. I wasn't ready to leave, but I knew I had to. We did stop at Cracker Barrel in St. George and I LOVE that place. Food was great and I loved the little store. I can't wait to go back. View from the cabin
Paul, Pam, and David
Me and my hunny.
Ronda, Pam and me
We did a whole of this....nothing!






View of the cabin. We thought it resembled Amytiville Horror!

4th of July

What a great holiday weekend! My two nieces from WA were here and we had a great time. We swam all day, went to the park, and ate a lot of food. I love a good eating holiday!
Cute little rugrats!!!
Always have to make my flag cake!







Waiting on the balcony for the Aliante fireworks to go off. Best seats in the house!!

Aunt Karah was Here!

Actually, my niece Karah, but all of my kids refer to her as Aunt Karah. Karah drove from Seattle, WA with her 3 kids(plus, being prego) to spend a week with us. We always have such a great time and are always on the go. Here are some fun things we all did:

Summer Fun

I signed my kiddos up for swimming lessons at the beginning of summer. Camryn already knows how to swim, yet I wanted her to learn the basic strokes and get some good exercise. Since I signed up Cam and knew I had to sign up Jaxon who doesn't know how to swim and relies on his frog float...which is fine by me. $300 for four week lessons seemed a bit high, but it actually turned out to be the best thing. Jaxon went from this....



to this. Yep, in 4 weeks time he gained enough confidence to take off the frog float and swim on his own. He's still learning how to keep afloat so his frog is only off when Paul and I are in the pool with him. I'm just amazed at how quick he learned.



Parade
Madison's dance group was asked to perform in the Summerlin 4th of July parade. I've never been to this so was a bit excited, plus watching your child perform in it made it an awesome adventure. The only rough thing was not having another adult around to help me with the little ones. I had a hard time finding where Maddie was supposed to go and then trying to get a good spot to sit was a bit difficult.

Maddie is a bit stressed since we had a hard time finding where she was supposed to go. Her teacher ended up picking her up in a golf cart. Stress!!
Performing in the parade.
Jaxon's favorite part of the parade.


Now we are happy the parade is over and all turned out great!