This little girl of mine

is SEVEN!!

Its been a long standing tradition in our home that the week approaching any birthday is "birthday week".  That week the birthday child get to pick all their favorite meals.   Emily, lets say, has some very good taste buds! 

On the menu this last week:

loaded baked potato soup

Mongolian shrimp and scallops over rice

jambalaya

ranch burgers

citrus pork chops

ultimate nachos

We love Emily's birthday week!  We eat SO well!

Emi loves the camera

She loves to make us laugh

She almost always has a smile on her face

She loves adventure, getting dirty and all things scary

We've had 7 years with a funny little girl that comes up with one-liners like no other!

We love you Emily!!

Happy Birthday

spon·ta·ne·ous

One thing that I love about Todd is that he is spontaneous.  I tend to be more of the planner type but not him.  He'd rather wake up and decide to go somewhere and off we'd go.  Last weekend we had a bit of a spontaneous trip to our favorite place, Magic Mountain.  We got season passes for the park for Christmas so we love to go anytime we're able.  I always thought that the park was geared toward older kids.  That is partly true, unless you have a bunch of daredevils for children!  Check out this ride.  The X2.  Emily's favorite ride in all the park!  Emily is only 6!  You can only see her little toes sitting next to Todd! 

I love this kind of thrill rides and I'm so glad our kids do too!

I'm not sure what got into our kids but we were all thrill rides all day long!  No more waiting in lines for baby rides!  Love it!







And in other exciting news... Megan got contacts! This trip was her first time without glasses and it sure made going on all the free falling-face-first-death defying-loop turning rides so much easier!  And of coarse, NO trip to Cali would be complete without a stop at the beach.

Someday, somehow we will have a beach house!  I could sit and watch the waves forever!  It seems like no matter what is happening in life, the beach is always a place to go and get some perspective on life. The analogies are endless.  All I can say is I'm thankful for spontaneous living! 

A DVR kind of life

I often wish that life was more like my DVR. Ya know, like wouldn’t it be great to rewind and relive certain parts of your life? And wouldn’t it be great to hit the pause button or the extreme slow motion button to hold on and cherish the moments that seem to be going by to fast? But then there is also the fast forward and extreme fast forward button. I admit there are many times I think I’d be likely to fast forward through the rough spots. I’ve been thinking about this DVR concept a lot lately. Kind of like the movie, Click.

This weekend I had a chance to meet up with an old buddy of mine from back in day, Bruce. Bruce and I were pals that did lots of stuff together with our group of friends. We chatted and I got to met his adorable family and go down memory lane with him for a bit. As I was driving home, I couldn’t help but think of all the fun we had and all the crazy things we did too. I’m not sure there was a resort in Scottsdale that we didn’t at one time or the other sneak into to go pool hopping. Oh the good old days. I got to thinking about this “rewind” concept. We chatted about people I hadn’t even thought of for 15 years! While most of the memories were great and I had fun reliving them, a few of the memories got me thinking about how I should have been better. I should have chosen better. I should have not treated others so poorly. I should have been a better example, darn it! Then my mind shifted to a talk I read a few months back by Elder Holland. Who in my opinion is a rock star among the apostles, is that bad to say? A talk given at BYU last year, called Remember Lot’s Wife. Love this talk!  I started thinking, am I being like Lot’s wife. Am I longing to go back, relive, redo or stay in the past? Sometimes, yeah. I think Satan has a way of getting into our thoughts and glamorize the past. I don’t have a great memory AT ALL, but all my memories were great! How does that happen? Maybe it just happens to me.

I’m currently in need of the pause/slow motion button. Time is going by way to fast. I have a teenager and my baby, that is not so much a baby, turns 7 in a few weeks! This time in life is so fun. So busy, but so fun! I love having kids that are in a way, independent. We are officially out of “baby” mode and into a totally different phase in life. I love it. I really, really love it! But boy how I long to hold onto my kids at this stage for longer!

That fast forward button is a button that as of late, I think about to often. I keep thinking, if we could only get past this rough spot or that rough spot we’d be better, happier. But I then was reminded in this last Conference that we learn the most in these rough spots while we are waiting for them to pass. And let me tell you what, I’ve learned a lot. I’m actually becoming a little thankful for the rough spots in a weird way. I’m not at all the same person I was a few years ago. Hopefully, more patient, more understanding, more compassionate and less judgmental, to name a few.

While the thought of having a life DVR is exciting to me, I guess I can only try to hold onto the good, learn from the past, stay present and be hopeful for the future. My kids were watching Back to the future 3 the other day. According to that movie we should in the year 2015 be able to time hop with all the new technology. I guess in the end I might get my wish. I’ll only have to wait just few more years to go back, go forward or stay put according to Doc Brown and Marty McFly!

Sorry for my rant, but if you endured my soap box confessional at least now enjoy this new pictures~

The tunnel of death

About a year ago I started having some wicked headaches.

I would categorize them in the I'd-rather-chop- my-head-off than have this headache category. I'd say we had a few stressful things happening around our little house about the same time, so my doc said its probably stress induced. Well when the scull-pounding-knive-seeking headaches didn't stop for weeks on end, the doc said lets send you do get an MRI, aka the tunnel of death. Have you ever had an MRI? he asked. Once, and I freaked out BIG time, I said.  He thought I was kidding. Not so much kidding.  I'm not one that is fond of small confined spaces. In fact, not only am I not fond of them, I HATE them. We had to get to the bottom of these headaches so I didn't have much choice but to face my fear of the "tunnel".

The appointment was made and the little "chill yourself out" pill was taken but then they came in to strap me down to the table, head, arm and legs! Oh boy, I did not like that. The test usually was to take about 45 mins. Mine 65. 65 minutes of praying and trying to find some sort of happy place.

A few days later the test results returned.

Cyst

Back of the scull

2.5 cm

Close to optical gland

covering the pineal gland. size of pineal gland 5-8 mm

Not what we were expecting.

The cyst was determined to be non cancerous but "of concern".

So for weeks and weeks I went to different doctors. I seriously felt like the doctors office was my second home. My mind usual goes to worst case scenario, death.   My body tattoos on a smile and keeps movin cuz a pitty party for one is not much fun.

Solution: wait 6 months, redo the mri and see if there has been growth to the cyst.

Friday was my day. Once again into the tube. 6 months flew by.

This time I put on my big girl paints, brought a sleeping mask, took 2 "chill yourself out" pills and was slid in.

Then the waiting game. The stressed ~ out ~ waiting game.

After a long weekend of waiting and wondering, my doc called.

No growth

No change in position

Revisit the tunnel in 6 months. If no change, then it’s a monitoring process once a year.

Halleluiah

I get to keep my long hair. Vain, I know.

Life!  I get to live without some risky surgery.

The headaches are still here. Not as often as they were, thank goodness.

But, I now have a whole lot of something to be happy about!

A whole lot of something to be positive about.

A whole lot of anwsers to some serious prayers.

A whole lots of thankfulness.

Spring Break Snow Day

Spring Break in Az wouldn't be complete without a trip to the snow. Thankfully we've gotten snow to go to this year. It's been a nice change!

The Tifft cousins are always on board for our last minute snow outings!

A true AZ snowman!

We love the snow, but love it even more that we get to drive out of it and leave it all behind!

Nine

Someone around here has a very special birthday!

Ashley!!

Ashley has the biggest smile and most contagious laugh!
She loves to tell jokes and pull pranks on us unsuspecting people!

She loves to be outside

She is very easy going and can entertain herself well

She has a firey temper and throws a mean left hook

She has giggle attacks that can last for hours

(which is hularious unless it happens in church, then not so funny)

We love you Ashley!!

You keep us on our toes and make our home a happy place!

Happy 9th Birthday!!

Thirteen

There is something about the age 13.

Somewhere between being a boy and a man is this little number 13.

13 years of laughter

13 years of fun

13 years of memories

second to none!

I've had stray tears all day thinking that my little 9 lb 13 oz first born is now 13!

From boy to man in a blink of an eye.

I couldn't have hand picked a more

kind

fun

thoughtful

gentle

athletic

giving

tough

smart

funny

adventures

spritual

bold

kind of son anywhere!

Happy 13 Shayne!!

Our family wouldn't be the same without YOU!!