In other news!

We got to go inner tubing at this place called Soldier Hollow. It has tow ropes that pull you up the mountain and then you come down the hill on the tubes. It was lots of fun, but it was snowing
















It usually costs about $20 to go, but we got in for $4 adults $1 kids through the BYU MBA group...membership has its privileges! (Jesse was grumpy, so would not get in the picture! Why is it that they are always so grumpy after a fun outing? One of the mysteries of life, I guess!)
We were watching our neighbor's kids the other evening and these are some cute pics of Dylan with his best buddy, Luke-y...he just can't get enough of him!














Dylan would get up to get a snack or a drink and then he'd come right back and put his arm around Luke...it was pretty precious.
And finally...news on the job hunt: Danny had 3 interviews this past week, with Orica, Schlumberger and Wal-Mart. They seemed to go well....now we just wait. It seems to be the rule of thumb these days...Hurry up and wait. We are learning patience (or maybe not so much!) All we can do is wait and pray, so that is what we do. I wish I had some better news, but it is what it is!
That should bring us all up to date.

Grace the photographer!

Grace came upstairs the other day and handed me my camera. I asked her if she took any pictures. She assured me that she had not. I wonder how all these photos got onto my camera!

(Just in case you wanted to see all the intimate details of our little home.)
So...what do you think? Do I have a photo-prodigy on my hands? I didn't quite think so either!

A trip to the Bean!

Last Saturday I took the kids to the Bean Museum up at the Y. Danny was doing homework all day and we needed to get out of the house. The Bean has lots of "stuffed" animals to look at. The kids had a great time.
Of course, it didn't end up being a completely free trip as the kids suckered me into buying them some little stuffed animals of their own!

Bag Tag

Here's the deal...you have to empty your purse, take a picture and list the items in it (without cleaning it out first.) Here's what was in mine:
Mine was in desperate need of a clean out (thanks Jeni for the tag!)
There were my kids immunization cards, checkbook, wallet, Hello Kitty sunglasses (not mine!) lipliners/stick/gloss, an expired coupon to Childrens Place, my phone, etc. and a huge stack of trash and receipts.
Now everything has been purged and it is much lighter and easier to find the stuff I need.

I'm it!

I've been hit by the tag that has been going around...at least it's not a flu-bug, so things could be worse! This is actually my first of two tags...so stay tuned for the second.

What is your hubby's name? Danny. When I first met him I told him that he was too old to be a Danny. Nice, huh?
How long have you been together? Met on October 23rd 1999, married September 9, 2000.
How long did you date? Dated 5 months, engaged 5 months
Who said I love you first? I honestly can't remember, but I'm sure it was him!
Who is taller? He is by 5 or so inches. (I always dated the 6'+ guys [I'm 5'3] and decided that I had had enough of the neck strain. He's just the right size for me!)
Who is smarter? I am and he hates that! He's much better at school than I ever was. I'm too lazy to put in the effort.
Who does the laundry? Mostly me, but he pitches in quite a bit.
Who does the dishes? Same as above.
Who sleeps on the right? Right now, he does. I always sleep on the side that is closest to the door...to get to the kids!
Who pays the bills? I handle all that stuff, but I have it all on auto-pay...I can't be bothered to think about that stuff. If I have an unusual bill that I have to write a check for, it is usually late!
Who mows the lawn? Whoever has the time. We haven't had to do it a lot in our marriage. I try to get to it first because it'll take him all day to do it!
Who cooks dinner? 99.9% me. He will fix dinner for the kids frequently (heating up chicken nuggets, etc.) but I do most of the cooking.
Who drives when you are together? Mostly him...unless he's tired of being bossed around!
Who is more stubborn? Me...he's pretty easy-going.
Who kissed who first? He asked if he could kiss me (it was his first kiss ever!) and after it was over he said "is that it? Where are the fireworks!" Yeah, that's gotta make you feel real good about yourself! He had seen too many movies.
Who asked who out first? I invited him to dinner with my whole family...really nice to do to a shy guy! He was a good sport.
Who proposed? He did...he took me out to the desert where they were having a Poppy festival and after the festival we went out to a Poppy reserve where wild California poppies grow all over the hills. He proposed while hiking around there.
Who has more siblings? He does-2 sisters, 3 brothers. I have 1 sis, 2 bros
Who wears the pants? I get my way most of the time. I'm trying to hand the pants over to him, but he's just too busy to accept them!!

Well, that was a fun trip down memory lane. I now tag Jeni C. (gotcha back!) Jessica, Sonja, Emily and Becky. Go to gals!

Look who's 18 months...

...and has started nursery (Yeah!)I have some pretty fun pictures and a birth story for this one that I want to share (I did not have a blog at the time of his birth, but these items are very blog-worthy!)
First off...here's a picture of my poor feet a couple of weeks before delivery. Can you say Fred Flintstone? At least my toenails looked pretty!
So here's the rest of the story...
Dylan was due on July 28th and we were scheduled to move to Utah on the 15th of August. Only 2 weeks? No problem, both Jesse and Grace's deliveries were relatively easy (hey, with Grace I left the hospital and went straight to the Beach House!) and they were both early. I was counting on both of these facts. Boy was I wrong! His due date came and went. And to make matters worse, on July 29th (Saturday), it was 119 degrees in the San Fernando Valley. Ugh! I was fat, I was hot, I wanted that baby out and I had a schedule to keep! No luck! On Monday, I went to see the Dr. I begged, I pleaded to be induced, but to no avail! (I was on an HMO that would not induce until I was a week overdue.) This is getting longer than I had wanted...I will try to hurry now.
I was scheduled to be induced Friday AM...Thursday night I went into labor. There must have been a full moon because there were several other deliveries happening at the same time. They took forever to get me an epidural and then they messed up when they gave it to me. It took about an hour and 3 pokes to get the job done. In the process I got a wet tap that resulted in a week of horrific spinal headaches.
My water broke while I was getting the epidural and soon after the baby went into distress. They determined that the uterus was pinching the umbilical cord, so they stuck a tube in me to fill me back up with fluid (yeah, I'd never heard of that before either!) Then I felt like it was time to push.
The Doc (who I am sure this was his first night on the job) came in to check me and discovered that Dyl was coming out face first (as opposed to back of the head first) and decided to transfer me to the operating room where he would have me push a few times and then see what would happen. I was wheeled to the OR amid a flurry of papers to sign (like I had time to peruse their contents, I could have been signing away my life for all I knew...and probably did!) Apparently the anesthesiologist did not get the memo that I was to push because as soon as I got in the OR he had me so pumped full of drugs that I couldn't feel anything from the neck down. The Dr. yelled "incision" and they began to hack away. Dyl was already in the birth canal, so they had to push him back up and in the process tore my bladder in two places.
And this is what you look like if you are stuck in a birth canal face-first! Just in case you were wondering!















Look at those poor lips and nose.
While Danny went out to be with Dyl when they took him to the NICU (they were worried he wouldn't be able to eat with those lips!) I lay on the table for what seemed like hours (and it was!) until the urologist could be roused from bed at 2:00am to come fix the little bladder problem. The worst part is that no one told me what was going on...and I'd never seen any of this on A Baby Story! Meanwhile, Danny sat outside and was locked out of the OR and no one told him what was going on for 3 hours.
To make a long story even longer...Several stitches and a blood transfusion later (yeah, still unclear on that one!) I was in the recovery room. Whew!
A few hours later I was finally able to see my new baby boy.














To my joy, his lips had deflated...and mine had inflated (I feel pretty, oh so pretty!) And despite a little bruising he was as perfect as he could be. So what if I had to get all beat up (literally) in the process and have to leave the hospital with a catheter for two weeks and endure a week of the worst headaches. It was worth every minute (except maybe for that minute that I had to stand up for the first time!!!)
One thing that I learned about anatomy...every part of your body is connected to the abdominal region. Yeah...even blinking hurt!
Danny ended up moving to Utah without us and we joined him a couple of weeks later. Better late...
Life is what happens when you're making other plans!
And here he is today on his 18 month b-day:Just look at that sweet face...Yep, I'd do it all again, I'm just glad I don't have to!