Moving Downstairs, finally!!

We had a pretty busy weekend. Jon and I went out and picked up some new furniture for Olivia's new room downstairs. Since we have been married we have only bought one piece of new furniture, the kitchen table. Everything else we have either been given or we bought used, so it was fun picking out some new things. Here is what the twins old room looks like now that it is all cleaned out. (PS we are selling these captain's beds, if you're interested let me know)Alex moved into Olivia's old room upstairs. She got a new dresser and bed. She is super excited about the bed!Cody moved to one of the huge rooms downstairs.I love the closets in these rooms downstairs, so much room for storage. I am still trying to come up with some paint and decorations. I want to do some kind of camping theme, that's why there are the lanterns on top of the dresser and shelves.

Olivia also moved downstairs to the other room.She also has a big closet, so lots of room for storage.So here is the hallway and the bathroom door, we still have to put in the cabinets and glass for the shower so it isn't quite done yet.Here is the family room. That pole in the middle was the only one we couldn't hide in a wall. A little awkward but it works out okay I guess.

Here is the family room from the other side. We are also going to put cabinets along the back wall for a built in desk area for the computer stuff.

We are so happy to have the extra room to spread out. I love it. Things are almost back to normal. I was supposed to go back to work yesterday but we woke up to it being minus 15 outside and my diesel car doesn't really operate at that temperature so I was without transportation. I am feeling better every day and start physical therapy this afternoon. Hopefully my car will work today since it is above zero. It is a warm 12 degrees outside.

The drain is out....yee-haw!

First and foremost I missed buddy check 9 day, so even though it isn't the 9th here is the monthly reminder to do your self breast exam. Don't let the busy holiday season keep you from taking those few minutes to do your check.
I have really enjoyed our basement being finished this week. I have spent more time down there this week on the comfy couch in front of a big TV than anywhere else. My parents have been an awesome help this week. My dad took the week off and had the twins or was here helping me with the twins everyday this week. What a blessing it is to have them close and be so helpful. Jon is still working days so that has also been great having him here at night to help out and to snuggle with in bed to keep my ice cold feet warm. :-) He is a great heater!
I had my MRI and blood work done yesterday. Turns out they didn't have my name on the schedule to do my MRI due to some oversight so I had to go back to my parents house after my blood draw to wait for my MRI time. My brother Mason ended up taking me to my appointment so my dad could pick up the twins from school. He even held my hand while they started the IV and took me to lunch afterwards. When he brought me home he came downstairs to see the basement and ended up staying and watching a movie with me. It was fun just hanging out with him since we don't hang very often. I can now officially say I am SO OVER getting poked with all the things I had going on the last week.
Today my mom came with me to Dr. Brewster's to get my drain pulled out. I have to say even after having to endure 5 drains over all my surgeries, the 6th one proves that you never get used to something like that. I go in knowing that it is going to hurt and hurt bad getting it yanked out but am still surprised by how much it actually does hurt. I cried. Then made my mom cry. Thank goodness that is over. I am so relieved to have that stupid, disgusting thing out! She also moved my implant all around to try and keep that pocket from scarring like it did before. I thought I was pushing it around pretty well but realized I wasn't pushing them hard enough when she showed me again where they should be going. Hopefully I can do it correctly and not have the same problem again this time. I sure don't want to have to do this again.

Still Alive.

Well I made it through. My surgeon was ahead of schedule so when we checked in there was almost no waiting around which was nice to just get it over with. I woke up with out any side effects from anesthesia and feeling pretty good. Of course my mom and Jon were able to enjoy the stupid things that come out of your mouth for the first few hours of being on narcotics. Good times! I stayed Wednesday night in the surgery center and came home on Thursday afternoon. I have spent most of the last few days downstairs on our comfortable new sofa in front of the TV. It's been nice and relaxing. Other than the stupid, dumb surgical drain I have sticking out of me there isn't too much pain. I don't think I get it out until Thursday at my post op appointment. Drag. Hopefully the next few days go by quickly and I can put this behind me. Still have to do the displacement exercises where I move the implant around to keep the "capsule" open and the scar tissue from forming. I don't have to do the laying on the floor thing like I did last time though, so that is a plus.

So far everything looks great and more proportional. The scar tissue is all broken up and feels more like the other side. This week I have to go in for my 6 month blood tests and brain MRI on Wednesday. Hopefully that all goes well and I can't wait to get that over with.

Since Jon has been working days rather than nights the last few weeks he has done the bed time routine with the kids. They all read together and the kids love it. Here they are this evening. What a good daddy!

surgery day....already.

Well tomorrow is the day. Feeling a little bit of mixed emotions. Finally it is here, but shoot. I want to get it over with but don't want to deal with it.
Our thanksgiving was good. My parents were out of town so my sister Heather and I got our families together to celebrate. Jon's parents also joined us for the meal. Even though there were 12 of us, it seemed small compared to our normal crowd. I cooked a turkey for the first time and it turned out to be pretty easy. I missed having my parents there even though I get to see them a lot because they are close to us. I got a small taste of what my out of town sisters miss out on not being here. (losers, you two should move home) Jon also got the nasty cold that has been going around our house. Hopefully it doesn't last as long for him as it has for me.
On Friday Jon and I took the kids and did some Christmas shopping. Since the basement is close to being done Jon got his Christmas present early and we bought the furniture and TV for the family room.
Sunday was my anniversary. Jon and I have been married for 7 years, amazing. I can't believe that we have been through all we have in the last 7 years. I am so lucky to be married to my best friend and can't imagine life without him. He does such a great job taking care of me and the kids. I love you babe.
Today the city inspector came to check out the basement. We were given the go ahead to use the 2 bedrooms and the family room. I have some of the kids stuff down here already but am really looking forward to now having the extra room to spread out. AWESOME!!! 2 years later we can finally use it!!! Jon has done an amazing job, with the help of lots of friends of course!
I am still coughing and developed a pain in my back around my rib cage that got worse over the weekend. Yesterday I went to the doctor since it was getting so bad I couldn't breathe without it hurting much the less cough....ouch. Thank goodness the chest x ray came back that it was not phenomena. The doc thinks I pulled a ligament or something. Ouch, whatever it is. He gave me some Tylenol with codeine but they don't seem to be helping a ton. I am really nervous for tomorrow. I would think that this would be easier the more "experience" you have but I am just as nervous as I was the first time I had surgery. I didn't really sleep much last night and have a feeling it will be the same tonight.
Olivia had her Christmas concert tonight. Those kids are so stinkin cute. I will upload pictures soon. I am sure I will have plenty of time sitting around over the next week. Off to try and sleep, hopefully I will be successful.

the weekend has come to an end...

I am STILL coughing. It still sucks. I am not sure that it will ever go away and I am annoying all that have to be around me. Sorry to my husband, family, co workers and friends that have to sit next to me in the movies and at the comedy show!!

We found out this week that the listing agent on the house we wanted bought the house. The agent that had listed it before it went into foreclosure....bummer.

Friday night I had my girls night that I have been waiting months for. Twilight finally was released and we were all so excited to see it. A group of 12 of us went to eat at the Olive Garden and then went to see the 9:15 show. We had my friend Abbey make us all custom shirts that turned out really cute. Here are some shots of us from the night.

I have to say that I was SO disappointed by the movie representation of the book. I think that those that see the movie that haven't read the book will probably like the movie better than those of us that have read the book. Although I still love the story, the movie just was not as good as it could have been and I felt it showed that it was "low budget". I was more entertained by the company and the comments from those around me than the show itself. In all fun, I decided to make my own top ten list. Here are the top ten reasons I have heard or said as to why you shouldn't see Twilight.

1. Unless you're into guys who wear make-up, this film isn't for you. There was so much make up on Edward (and the other male vampires) that it was distracting from the rest of the goings-on.

2. The vampires were portrayed more as zombies with these terrible looks on their faces.... constantly. If you ever have trouble distinguishing who is a vampire and who is a human look for the constipated face....that's your vampire. Plus Jasper looks like a crack head retard every time he is shown in any scene.

3. Which brings us to the sparkling, a phenomenon that causes light-stricken vampires to suddenly look as if they’ve had a horrible accident involving a glitter truck and an angry mob armed with Bedazzlers. What may have seemed cool in the book looks like a human disco ball onscreen.

4. The acting was worse than.....okay I can't even think of anything horrible enough to compare it to, honestly. Kristen and Rob have zero on screen chemistry and just appear awkward the entire time. It was like watching a brother and sister pretending to like each other.

5. The special effects were circa-1985. I wouldn't even call anything a great special effect in the entire film. Although the ballet studio scene was OK, it wasn't anything to write home about.

6. When the "bad vampire" James is the best actor in the entire film, rather than the starring roles.....there might be a problem.

7. I am going to have to re read this book at least twice to erase all of the damage the movie had done. Now, who has the time to do that!

8. I don't think it's a very good sign when the parts in the book that were serious and critical to the story are making the audience watching the movie laugh because there really is no other response to the scene being so awkward....

9. In the last hospital scene with that tubing across Bella's face, did anyone else find it bizzarro that the tubing practically takes out her eyeballs instead of going across her cheeks? Where the heck are her ears that hold this thing? On top of her head??

10. 2 words......spider-monkey......huh?

In all seriousness I still LOVE the story and will surely see the movie again I was just really let down. Maybe my expectations were too high??

Jon took me out of town for our anniversary this last weekend too. It was nice to escape the kids for 2 days and have fun just hanging out. We went shopping and met up with our friends Brad and Patty. We didn't really find too much that were on the kids Christmas lists but we did end up buying a fake tree. I wanted to get one last year but by the time Christmas was over all the good ones weren't left to be on clearance. We found a really nice one at the Great Indoors. I love that store.

We went to Comedy Works on Saturday night which was funny but I thought it was kinda a rip off. We had to pay $20 for admission and then on top of that after we got in there found out they have a 2 item minimum that you have to order off the menu. When you don't drink that kinda sucks. The food was so over priced, plus we had just eaten dinner. Oh well, it was still fun. Thanks for taking me out honey, happy 7 years together!!

Still Coughing

I guess today I starting to feel better but still pretty congested and can't stop coughing. This cold is putting up a good fight.

This weekend we took the kids to see High School Musical 3. I could have done without the oohhs and ahhs from the pre teen crowd that was there but the kids did seem to like it. I suppose we have to at least pretend to be interested in what they are interested in. Saturday Jon was able to go play with his buddy Seth on the four wheelers for the day. Saturday night Jon's mom made dinner and we had his parents, his brother, and his aunt and uncle over for dinner. It was nice to catch up with everyone. We took them over to this house that we have been keeping our eye on that is now bank owned and foreclosed. We are hoping to be able to score it for a great price but are still in the process of talking to the bank to see what they will take it for. It is always great to dream, right?

Yesterday Jon spoke in church and has been reminding me all week that he will never do it again. He thinks he is a horrible speaker, but he is actually pretty good. Everyone said he did awesome, he just gets super nervous. I don't think he slept for more than an hour on Saturday night because he was so nervous.

I talked to my sister that lives in the Sacaremento area yesterday and she was telling me that they had policemen outside her church building for the 2nd week in a row trying to protect people going to church from the rioters. Apparently the protesters and rioters in CA are taking action against the LDS church for their support of proposition 8. For those that haven't heard of this it is big news in CA that was on the ballot this last election to add to the CA constitution a ban against same sex marriage. Because the LDS church was one of the MANY groups that spoke out against protecting the marriage they are being targeted by those that opposed this ammendment. I can't believe the hate and that this has caused. It is very interesting the way this has played out. I know this is a heated issue, so that is all I am going to say about that :-)

Jon put the kids in a bubble bath last night and here are some funny pictures from that...

Also my girls were at my parents last weekend and came home knowing the Macarena. My sister had gone on spring break to Mazatlan when she was a senior and brought the CD back. My mom still has it. I had to catch this on video the last time we were over. It was hysterical. Watch the way Olivia shakes her hips. Funny.

The highlight of my week is going to be Friday. We are having a girls night out to see the movie Twilight. It comes out on Friday and we bough advanced movie tickets online last week. We are going to make T shirts and everything.....oh yeah, we are that Jr. High! I am so excited!!!

Surgery....Psych!

After talking with Dr. Brewster Yesterday she said it was a no go. I am coughing so bad still and there is no way I want to be coming out of surgery hacking after being hacked into. ha! Meanwhile I am just trying to lay low and recover from this nasty cough. Thanks for every one's offers to help and prayers to feel better. I really appreciate it! We now have my surgery rescheduled for Wed Dec. 3rd.

Buddy Check 9

Hey everyone. Today is buddy check 9 day so don't forget to do you monthly self breast exams. Remember early detection is key!! You are never too young to start that self breast exams.

Also I have uploaded a bunch of photos from the last month or so to my picasa site so follow the link on the side bar and go check it out!

Catching up

Well since our trip and my last blog post we have stayed busy. After I got home from the trip I was able to go and speak to a group of young adults down in Denver with the Ameri Corps. I signed up to volunteer with Komen and they asked me to come and speak here. It was a really neat experience to tell my story and just raise awareness about breast cancer and the realities of that diagnosis. I was able to bring my parents down with me and it was neat to be able to share that experience with them and just get to hang out with them for an evening. I am really looking forward to speaking again and raising awareness about the disease.

We have also passed Halloween. Fun for the kids. Olivia was a witch, Alex was Liohna (from Barbie and the Diamond Castle), and Cody was a Broncos player.

Ah, how cute! They were all able to dress up for school, the church party, and for trick-or-treating.

Work has been going well. Staying really busy trying to work 3 days a week and trading off watching kids with a girlfriend seems to be working well. I have been dreading my upcoming surgery this week. The kids have all had a little cough and the sniffles and it seemed to hit me head on this last week. I haven't been sleeping well because I have been stressed about having the surgery so I called the surgeon on Thursday and I am not allowed to take anything like tylenol or motrin because they are blood thinners and I can't take them for a week before my surgery. I was left with trying an over the counter sleep aide and a plain decongestant.

That got me through Thursday with the kids field trip to Centennial Village. This is a historical village in Greeley. The kids were able to walk around and see the old buildings but had a hard time keeping their hands to themselves. They weren't allowed to touch any of the artifacts. Unfortunately also there was a huge freezing wind storm in Greeley that day as well so everyone was dressed in their winter gear. Here are some pictures.

The rest of the weekend has been pretty horrible. My cold has gone from annoying to horrible. I haven't even left the house for the last 3 days. I have a horrible cough and bad chest congestion. I was able to get some ambien so I have been sleeping better which I think is helping but I still feel horrible. I also started my juicing again on Friday and just trying to do anything that will get me healthy in the next few days. Unfortunately with not being able to take anything pain reliever wise I have been super miserable. My whole body aches. Jon has been awesome at taking care of me and has even managed to finish up the trim in the basement. One more thing to check off the list. My mom has also been a big help with the kids, picking up my wheat grass, and bringing us dinner. I guess I am destined to be sick the week before I have surgery. I got a cold right before my last surgery as well. I will call the surgeon on Tuesday and see if I am still able to go in or not. Hopefully I can just get it over with since I have been a basket case for the last week and a half! Pray I can kick this cold in the next 36 hours!!

Vacation Day 5,6 & 7.....Disneyland

We spent the last part of our vacation at Disneyland. We had great hotel recommendations from a friend who frequents Disneyland to stay at a Marriot basically across the street. It was great. We walked to the park and they even had a pizza hut inside the hotel and a McDonalds in the parking lot. We will definitely stay there if we go again!

My sister had read a book about how to navigate the park so she was our tour guide. Cody and Marnie were too small to ride most of the bigger rides so we did have to split up quite a bit. I was surprised at how well Olivia and Alex ended up liking the big roller coasters. The only one the would never do again was the tower of terror at CA adventure. There was a heat wave while we were there and was around 95 each day. It was nice we didn't have to wait in long lines most of the time. The characters weren't really out and about around the park so when we did see them it was pretty neat. Here is the girls with Alice in Wonderland.

Here is some pictures of my sister and I with the younger crowd when the big kids went to do space mountain.

The first night we were there we met up with my Uncle Dan and his family to eat at the Rain forest Cafe. The kids thought it was pretty neat. Here they are at dinner. Doesn't he look a lot like my dad?

Here is all of us outside the restaurant.

After we ate the guys took the big kids back to the park to play until they closed at 8. The next day we did most of the rides in Fantasyland that were geared toward the younger kids and ate at the Blue Bayou, the restaurant inside pirates of the Caribbean. Here we are waiting for our table.

The kids were all excited to ride the carousel. Look at these cousins with their hip crops, funny girls. Here is Alex on the carousel. Cutie.The highlight of our day and probably our entire trip for the girls was meeting the princesses. You had to stand in line to meet them but after seeing the way the masses attacked the characters that we did see about the park it made sense. So here are the girls meeting a few of the princesses.

We also stayed late at the park that night. I think the longest line we waited in was for Dumbo, totally lame. Here are the kids at night in the dumbo ride.

After we got back to the hotel that night the kids were exhausted. Here are the girls all passed out.Friday we did CA adventure. They had everything decorated for Halloween and the letters outside looked like candy corns. Here we are outside. My aunt Nancy came up and spent the day with us. We were all exhausted by noon so we went back to the hotel and the little ones took a nap while Olivia, Nancy, Trevor, and I went for a swim. The pool was pretty nice and Olivia had been asking to swim all week so it was nice they had the opportunity for a bit. After our rest we went back to Disneyland and had to get our tourist snapshot in front of the Mickey flowers.

Here is Jon and Olivia in front of the big pumpkin set up.What?!? We are going to see the princesses again in the parade?Of course we had to watch the big parade one night. Here is all of us watching. That concludes our Disney trip. It was a blast and I think the kids had a great time. Thanks for doing that with us Lucas family, we love you!

Vacation Day 4....San Diego Zoo

Today we actually got the kids to sleep in until 7:30, can you believe? Ha! We woke up to a very foggy morning. I think I would hate to live on the coast for that reason. They call it the marine layer (or so my sister says) where it is pretty much cloudy/foggy in the morning and late afternoon when the sun isn’t hot enough to burn it off. I was really surprised how breezy and cool the weather was here next to the coast.With the CA City Passes we purchased for the trip we got a ticket to Sea World, one to San Diego Zoo or Wild animal park, one for Universal Studios and a 3 day hopper pass at Disneyland and CA adventure. It was such a great deal. When we got to the zoo they told us that we also got a free bus tour trip and a skyride with those tickets which was I think about a $30 value. I love good deals! So we started the day on a bus trip around the zoo. When we walked through the kids zoo they had this fun cut out that the kids posed in front of it.

My aunt Kathy met up with us at the zoo this day and we were able to visit and walk around together. They went through the petting zoo next where Alex the animal love was in heaven.

On the opposite end of the spectrum my nephew Cole is terrified of animals. I caught him in action on film.

Here is Kathy with some of the kids at the petting zoo.

The monkey house was a big hit with our monkeys. We probably hung out here for at least 30 min watching the orangutans and monkeys. Here is my niece Marnie giving him a kiss through the glass, so cute!

Don't hang out there too long or you might come home with a story like this one....

Here is the picture to prove it.....uh, gross!

Here is all the kiddos by the monkey habitat. Cody says, take a picture of me! Here is our family by the elephant tree outside the zoo.And the zoo sign.
Here is a picture of the cousins by the zoo sign.
And my sister's family by the sign.
After the zoo that afternoon we drove up to Anaheim and checked into our hotel for the evening. We passed a cheesecake factory getting off the interstate and went right back there for dinner that evening. It was probably the best meal of the trip. The kids actually ate baked chicken and mashed potatoes. My sister and I looked over the menu before the kids even sat down and didn't even give anyone a choice, it was pretty funny. Just said all the kids will be splitting 3 of of these. There were still left overs so the portions were huge, but it was yummy!