A New Heart For Anthony

Last night and today I have been on pins and needles.  It's like my heart is going to beat out of my chest.  My nephew, Anthony is at Primary Children's Hospital right now getting a LONG awaited heart transplant.
When he was born, he was born with only half of a heart.  The doctors didn't even if he would live to be born, and then not sure how long he would live after.
My first date with Darren was a Sunday afternoon when we went to Primary Children's to see Anthony.  I will never forget his tiny little body laying in the crib with tubes going in and out of him everywhere.  He has had so many surgeries, 2 or 3 open heart and so many other surgeries already.  They have known that the day would come he would need a transplant or could not live any longer.  It has been a rough last couple of months waiting.  He has been in and out of the hospital constantly. 
 We are praying and fasting for Anthony and his family.  Anthony is the sweetest boy I have ever known.  The best way to describe his is without guile.  He is so sensitive and sweet.  My favorite example happened just recently.  He asked a girl out for his first date.  They were planning a double date with James and another girl.  Anthony asked the girl who he was taking if she was nervous to go out.  She said yes.  He said, "don't worry, Heavenly Father loves you." 
Anthony has been such a blessing to our family.  He has brought us together in love, fasting and prayers for the last 16 years. His spirit is noble and great.  I feel honored to be his aunt. It's ironic, that the one person who needs a new heart, doesn't really.

Dr. Laura

Yea!  I finally figured out how to get pictures off of Darren's camera.  So I am feeling better:)

Last week my sister Laura and her 13 year old daughter Adaline came to visit. If you don't know my sister Laura, well you are missing out. She is one of the most genuinely kind and generous people I know.   She has 7 kids and loves all of them so much.  We have talked on the phone almost every day for the last- oh- 10 years.  She is always so happy, encouraging and loves being a mom.  She is always saying positive things about her kids, and how much fun they are, and what a good stage they are at.  For the last 10 years, her kids have always been at "just the perfect age and so much fun!"  LOL  It's a good lesson to learn from her though. Enjoy and love your kids!  If I have any sort of parenting or health question I always call Laura.  So she has earned the nickname, Dr. Laura.  Laura wanted to be a Doctor, but got married and had kids.  So now she gets to be a doctor to all her kids and nieces and nephews.  She is really smart- seriously smart!
We need to have a battle of the wits between Athena, Christina and Laura!  Julia and I will do jumping jacks and push ups while Darren quizzes them. Marilyn and Malinda can encourage them and give compliments.

I have to tell a story about Laura- then I'll tell about the trip.  So, we were in Utah visiting a couple of years back.  We went to church with Laura and Gordon.  Paul and Ellie were playing on a wing-backed chair.  Ellie was sitting in the chair and had her arm hanging over the side and Paul hung on it.   It popped her elbow out of the joint!!  She screamed bloody murder, and was crying hysterically.  She couldn't move her arm.  I was frantic and started looking for Gordon (who really is a doctor).  I was planning a trip to the Emergency Room when Laura calmly asked what happened.  I told her and said, "we meed to find Gordon!" She was like, "Ha, we don't need Gordon, I know exactly what to do."  And with a swift movement she grabbed Ellie's arm, held her elbow tight, and pushed her arm up towards her face, and her elbow popped right back into place!    Ellie stopped crying, she looked at her arm, she bent her elbow, I stood there with my eyes wide and jaw dropped.   I said, "how in the world did you know what was wrong and what to do?"  She said, "oh, Bridie used to get that all the time, it's called Nursemaid's Elbow.  Now, it is more likely to happen again now that those ligaments are loose, so she will need to be really careful."  She then showed me just what to do if it happened again.  Dr. Laura to the rescue, she never seizes to amaze me! With 7 kids she has seen it all!

Anyways, they came to visit and we had a fantastic time! Enjoy some pictures:)  When Laura first got here we opened up the back glass doors, turned on the lights out back and had a bbq in the warm outdoors.  The next morning my kids went off to school and Laura, Adaline, Gabe and I headed to the Everglades for a airboat ride. 

They had a pet alligator that they let kids sit next to. 

I'm kidding! It's fake. 

4 little Indians

The last airboat ride we went on was a nightmare.  Gabe cried the whole time. Laura convinced me that Gabe is older and would be good. 

He was a little fussy at first, and I was worried it was going to be a disaster.

But before long, this is what he looked like.  The earplugs are because the engine and blades of the airboat is SOOO loud!

This view was amazing!

Laura and Adaline.  These headsets were awesome!  We could hear the captain talk and talk to each other even over the sound of the engine.

Saw a gator!

And a bunch of racoons, that the other air boat captains  were feeding.   I wasn't too into the feeding of the wild animals.

So then we headed back to Naples and on the way we went on a walk down this boardwalk.  We saw a Bald Eagle's nest.

Beautiful vegetation.  We saw a grasshopper the size of a cat.  Well, it wasn't that big, but was seriously about the size of a large mouse.  It was insane. I was to hot and tired 
to take a picture of it.

Beautiful ladies!  Adaline was so fun to have a long!  She was so nice,  pleasant and easy going.  Come anytime Adaline!

the path went along this river.  There were 3 baby gators in this picture, but you can't really see them.

This is the like the 97th gator we saw.

And the 97th  Blue Herring.

Ahh ha!!! A Gator, Crane, and a turtle all in 1 picture!!!  Where else but Florida?!!

Lunch outside at Jane's.  I saw the back patio of this restaurant  last month and I thought, I need to go there with my sister's or mom!   It was beautiful!

Fun Car.

Then we walked down 5th Ave.  The rich street of Naples.  I loved the restaurants and decorating.  It has a little bit of Key West Architecture and colors.  Loved it!

We saw a TON of exotic cars.  Here is one of the many Bentley's.

One of the 3 Ferrari's . We also saw 2 Rolls Royces, and probably 20 Porches.

After a full day of gators and expensive cars we picked up the kids and headed North to Ft. Myers Beach.  Darren didn't come because he had a test the next morning to study for.  What's new.  

We had a great time.  We got pizza, and Laura let all my kids choose something worth 2-3 dollars at this really cool shell store. She made their night!  Then she bought Paul this really big shark tooth for 6 dollars and he was in heaven!  She is now top ranking as a favorite aunt.

Street performer

This guy was hilarious. If you put money in his hat he would honk his bike horn and make funny faces.

Adaline loved the water!

We made a pretty sweet sandcastle.

Ahhh, Now this is the life I was meant to live. 

Sisters by chance, friends by choice:)

Just chillin

After the beach we headed for a sunset cruise. 

Looking good girls!

Me and my honney.  Yes, he has a bruise on his eye.  He has been doing MMA (mixed martial arts) with some doctors he works with.  Only men.

Well, the last lunch at Captain Jacks before they had to go back to a winter wonderland.  I kept wondering what they were complaining about- snow is fun!  LOL, I can't blame them, it truly is BEAUTIFUL here. Thanks for the great time Laura and Adaline!  Come again soon- and bring your whole family!

Feelings

I don't have meltdowns too often.  I would say on average- once or twice a month.  Typically it's when I overload my schedule, the house becomes a mess, the kids go to bed at 10, my car's bumper is falling off and has ketchup on the ceiling, I can't figure out how to get pictures off of Darren's camera, and/or I can't walk through Ellie and Kyle's room.  It makes me feel like I am drowning in stuff to do. 

 I try not to post my meltdown's on my blog.  That's why I haven't posted the last week.  Ok, seriously, no major meltdowns.  But let me get my feelings out.  Sometimes I feel  on top of the world, like I got a ton done and I'm a great mom.   Other times I feel like ohhhh, how do I explain it, like I just can't keep up and I am so slow at doing everything.  It's like for the last week I have wanted to post about Laura's trip.  But I can't figure out how to get the pictures off Darren's camera.  I want to make a blog book, but between scouts, achievement days, basketball, Relief Society, MLK holiday, weekends, laundry, dishes, working out, running errands, grocery shopping, camping, my kids always end up going to bed late and I don't get a thing done at night!  Then I get up in the morning, work out, shower, eat, put Gabe down, clean up and get ready to do some office work, or whatever "extra" stuff I want to, but before I know it Gabe wakes up, the kids get home from school, homework, dinner, scouts, late for bed and boom, the day is over and I am exhausted!  And didn't get anything "extra" done.  Typically I get the basics done, but I am drowning in basics. I only get 1/3 of the things done off my list and I really start to feel bad about myself.  Does anyone else ever feel like this? 

See?? Like right now it is 10:40 at night and I wanted to go to bed at 10:20.  Well, if anyone has a magic answer that would be awesome.  I'll even take suggestions.  I bought, "Time Management From the Inside Out"  for myself for Christmas, but haven't had time to read it.  LOL, go figure.  Well, off to bed.  Tomorrow I am DETERMINED to get some blogs posted.  Oh, and get ready for camping, and.....  

Marilyn!

Yesterday I went to one of my favorite websites.  The Power of Moms.  I love to listen to the podcasts while I am cleaning up/having breakfast in the mornings.  Anyways, yesterday, low and behold the podcast I chose was with Marilyn DeBry!  LOL!  It was great- Marilyn did an awesome job!  I admire Marilyn so much!   Here is the link if you want to check it out:)

http://powerofmoms.com/2013/01/simplifying-your-home-simply-and-with-the-children-episode-46/

Happy New Year!!

Well, New Years was a blast. We started out by going to the church building with a bunch of families from Milano because none of us can fit the whole group in their house.  We played games in the gym and had lots of yummy foods.  Katie set up a disco ball and some music and I brought a fog machine.... Yes a fog machine.  Now, if you are ever at a public building, or anyplace with a fire alarm, don't use a fog machine.  Paul turned on the fog machine and it wasn't 30 seconds before the fire alarms in the church were going off.  Imagine flashing lights, lots of fog,and a loud electronic voice over the speaker, "ATTENTION, ATTENTION, THE BUILDING IS NOT SAFE.  PLEASE EXIT IMMEDIATELY".  The voice repeated itself over and over.  Someone quickly grabbed the fog machine and put it in the hallway.  Then we opened all the doors and tried to air it our with the electronic voice blaring at us.  Kids were running wild having a great time!  little did we know the fog machine was continuing to go off in the hallway.  I took and and ran it out to my car to hide the evidence before the fire truck got there.  An inevitable fate.  Sure enough they came.  At least they were nice.  They had to set up a big fan outside the gym.  It was exciting to say the least. After the fireman left we got back to partying.  Someone brought a Wii Dance and a projector.  So they set that up, along with the disco ball and the kids danced.  After that we went home for fireworks.

Fireworks!  It was a little cold.

Ellie and one of the twins

Oh, Paul is so big, he is showing Kyle how to light the firework.  Is bare feet and fireworks a good idea?  I'll blame it on Micah, he was in charge of the fireworks.

 And that was our New Years. Off to a great 2013!

Sharktooth Beach Part Deux

I found some more shark tooth beach pictures.  These were from a while back- like in May I think.  Here are instructions on how to properly go shark tooth hunting in Florida...

1. Go to Casperson Beach- yes it is this beautiful

2. Set up camp.  You are going to be having a great time and not want to leave, so make sure you have shade and snacks.

3. Get your tools for shark tooth hunting

4. Pick up a shovel full of shells

5. Dump the shovel full into your kids strainer.

6. Go at it!

7. Keep your eyes out for black

8. Put the teeth in your mouth for safe keeping until you can take them to mom to put in a baggy.

9. Take a friend for extra fun

10. And a loved one

11. Get the whole family involved!

12. Try not to get distracted by the old men.

13. I said don't get distracted!

14.  There, that's better on the eyes.

15. Keep looking!

16. Try to not get sandy.

17. Smile a lot.

18. Give me a hug!

19. Take another look at the beautiful water.

20.  And one last one!! BEAUTIFUL!!

21. Go home and sort them all out and look at your cool shark teeth!!

22. A successful day shark tooth hunting!