Spring Fling 2009

It's been a pretty full few days. It started out on Saturday with our annual family spring fling held in Yucaipa, followed by Kirk's birthday on Sunday and Kirk's dad's surgery for his stomach cancer on Monday. So, let me back up a little. Saturday. I have mixed feelings about that day. We had a great time at Avery's game in the morning and then having the opportunity to hang out with my family is always a treat. The kids had a great time playing with cousins and we adults had a great time catching up and playing around a bit too! After a bit my mom, Jean and I went over with Kenny K to see Janey. Janey is my cousin that has been stricken with lung cancer. She has been putting up a good fight for 2 1/2 years now, but now the disease is winning. It was heartbreaking to go over there knowing it will be my last time here on earth to see her, hug her and give her my love. I love her so much. But I am grateful I had that opportunity. We stayed with her for only about 20 minutes as she just couldn't fight the sleep and couldn't come around to full consciousness. Then we went back over to the family get together to resume our gathering and take our traditional family picture. It just felt wrong without Janey being with us. But it was great being with my family and seeing everyone! I am so blessed to have such an awesome family!

Devin playing with one of his favorite things...a sliding door!

So, then came Sunday and it was Happy Birthday to Kirk! We had gone out to celebrate, just the two of us, on Friday night. He got a Verizon Dare phone for his birthday and a couple of little items. On Sunday morning we went over to his parents house so that he could administer a blessing for his dad before his surgery. Kirk always gives such wonderful blessings! The spirit was very strong and I think his parents were touched by their sons words and expression of love. His wonderful friend, Todd Crump, came to help too. What a great friend to do that. Thanks Todd! After a couple of hours we were off to church. That night Kirk took Justin and Avery to a baptism that was happening in our ward. I stayed home with Devin because he doesn't sit still and it wouldn't help with the reverence. :-)

Monday morning was Kirk's dads surgery. Kirk went before me. I got the kids to school and took Devin over to my friend, Natalie's (thanks a million, girl!) and then I joined them at the hospital. I stayed for as long as I could and left a few hours later with Tom still in surgery. I only missed the doctor by 1/2 hour. He did well in surgery and is now recuperating at the hospital for the next 6-10 days. Ugh. Very painful. As far as the cancer is concerned, we won't know if it's spread or any more details for a few days. Thank you for all your prayers and phone calls of concern. We appreciate it very much!

Sorry for the long entry, but it's been busy and I needed to get it all in here before there was even more to add! :-)

Play School

Yesterday Play School was hosted by Ms. Rebekah and she did a theme around Spring. Devin wasn't the most cooperative again, but he did enjoy preparing the dirt to plant some tomatoes, decorating cupcakes and finally playing in the sprinklers with his friends. Thank heavens it was held yesterday and not today b/c it was a nice day and today has been chilly. The weather has been so weird! For those of you from out of state, we had over 100 degree temps Sunday thru Tuesday and today I'm not sure if we've made it out of the 60's. You never know what it's going to be like when you get up in the morning. Anyway, these pictures show Devin enjoying himself to the fullest. (oh, and notice...no more tighty whitey's. Ha!)

Beating the heat

It's been about 100 degrees yesterday and today. Pant, pant. The kids have been biting at the bit to go over to the pool, but we compromised with sprinklers today after school. Didn't realize Devin grew out of his trunks from last year. Tighty whitey's will work just fine! :-) So weird to think my sister in CO is knee deep in snow right now!

Go Avery, Go!

Avery had an excellent game yesterday. She was on fire! Her defense was right on in every inning and her offense was equally as good. Her coaches all said she deserved the game ball and would have gotten it, but one of her teammates dad was there and he normally can't come, so he received the game ball. She was a good sport about it and cheered him on even though she knew she was the star of the game today. Way to go, Avery! We only had Kirk's phone with us, so look for the speck of red in the photo below. Guess it's better than nothing.

Spa day

When my friend, Jolene, called on Friday to invite me to go to Glen Ivy Spa with her for her birthday yesterday, I wanted to, but wasn't sure if I could get it arranged, but I was motivated! After arranging for carpools and my mom to come and take care of Devin it was a go. We left at about 10:30 and didn't get home until almost 6:00. Ahhh, the life! Neither of us had been there before so we took some time to explore before deciding on the first thing to do. We did the mud baths, mineral hot tubs, lunch, lounge pool, relaxed by the pool and jacuzzi. It was absolutely the perfect day...not too hot and not too cold. It was beautiful out! We ended the day with another trip to Club Mud and lathered up again and left with our skin feeling very soft and smooth. Thank you, Jolene, for inviting me. I had a great time! Happy birthday!

Happy Easter!

We had a nice Easter weekend. We went to spend it with my parents for the first time since we've been married! From the time we got older and my sister moved with her family, Easter wasn't such a huge thing in our house and we did church together and just hung out while my sister and her family had their Easter celebration in whatever state they were living in at the time. Once I had a family of my own, we went to Kirk's parents to celebrate because they always got together for the whole Easter dinner thing and when we had kids it turned into egg hunts over there as well. It never really occurred to us that we actually could do Easter with my family sometimes too, so this year we made it a point. Yes, we're all a little slow with these things. Ha. So, we packed up our suitcases (which looked like we were going away for a week rather than a weekend) and away we went. This year Justin became more of an adult (if you get my meaning...little eyes will also be reading this, so I can't say too much about that). So sad to see his innocence slipping away, but he's been a great example to his siblings and keeping it all alive.

Sunday we woke up and enjoyed the excitement of seeing what the Easter Bunny brought.

Then it was time to get ready for church. It was great to go back to not only the ward I grew up in, but also the ward that we spent the first year of our married life. So much fun to see such great friends! When we got home the kids headed straight outside (no time for changing clothes!) for the egg hunt. They had fun finding all 57 hidden eggs. My mom prepared a really good roast dinner and then we enjoyed the traditional bunny cakes that I make every year. Soon it was time to pack up and head on home. I can't believe I didn't get any pictures of my parents or Kirk or me. Well, it is all about the kids, right? Thank you, Mom and Dad, for hosting a great Easter! Love you!

A visitor

On Thursday we had the enjoyment of having one of Devin's old therapists come over for a visit. It was too precious - Devin was soooo excited to see her! He wanted her to go upstairs right away so they could get to work, but in his mind it is play. I'm so glad he has good memories of that experience. Kim visited with us for a couple of hours and played games and read to Devin. He was in heaven. Even though it's against her company's policy (go figure...Devin isn't receiving services from them anymore) she's going to keep in touch and will be coming back soon for another visit. Yay! (The little "hat" on Devin's head is from his Easter party at preschool earlier)

Egg-stra fun!

We had part 1 of our Family Home Evening on Sunday night. I had hidden 12 eggs each filled with things that remind us of the true meaning of Easter. The kids had fun finding them and then opening them and going over what every item represented. It was a great activity and well received by the kids. Then last night we had part 2 and dyed our Easter eggs while having the Angel's opening game on (they won!). Justin, being our logical one, asked why we dyed them and then just put them back in the frig just to peel them later and make them into deviled eggs. Good point, but it's fun. That's why, so just enjoy it. Ha!

Friends at Disneyland

Surprise! We went to Disneyland again. Well, most of us did. Kirk had to work on Tuesday and had planned to go fishing at Diamond Valley Lake on Wedneday, but when he called on Tuesday afternoon to reserve a boat he found out they were all booked up. So, he ended up doing stuff around the house and enjoying being alone for a bit. I had planned to meet up at Disneyland with a friend from Huntington Beach and her kids and another friend from HB, then found out that my friend from Utah, Tamara, was coming into town and going to Disneyland too, so I made plans to meet up with her there too. It was going to be a full and fun day. It turned out that Colleen's son had a last minute schedule change and had to play baseball, so they weren't able to make it and Tamara found out that her old college roommate from Texas was there too! So, when I met up with Tam, we decided to get together the next day at her hotel instead. It was probably better this way because boy was it crowded! Allyson met up with us at about 4:00 (we had gotten there around 2:00). We spent the first half of our day in California Adventure doing some new stuff that we've never done before - Playhouse Disney Live on Stage (well, Avery and Justin hadn't seen it yet anyway), Monster's Inc, Muppet's 3D (scared poor Devin!) and the Pixar parade.Then we went over to Disneyland to catch the Celebration parade (I thought it was pretty weak), hit Star Tours (Only a 1 minute wait, if you can believe that!!!), dinner and Small World and ended the night watching the fireworks. Even though it was crazy busy it was very fun. We then went to my parents to spend the night and hang out on Wednesday. It's always a nice time doing that. And my mom watched the kids while I went down to Newport Coast to visit with Tamara for a bit. Thanks, Mom!