Oh Disneyland...With The Kids!

The girls were ecstatic to go to Disneyland yesterday...& I have to admit, I was super stoked to take them, too! I'm a sucker for the Disney Photo Pass so we used that for both trips. You find a photographer at specific places in the parks, get your pictures taken a few times in several different poses, then they give you a little credit card thing to keep. Then you find another photographer & give them that card, they take your pictures a bunch, scan the card, & give it back to you. At the end of your Disneyland stay, you have a boat-load of awesome pictures on your card! I just LOVE the Photo Pass & I totally drive Dustin nuts cause each time I see a photographer I run to them to get our pictures taken! So most of the pictures are from our Photo Pass. ;)

We tried to do as much as possible, but didn't want to wear them out too much. Here's a recap of our day:

This is our absolute favorite picture of us, taken by the PhotoPass people. I have it on a calendar, mouse pad, & screen savers! :)

Brookie on the bell horse, my favorite one!

Someone got wiped out...

I took Cali potty. When we came out, Daddy & Brookie were gone. This is where we found them! LOL Surprise surprise...Dustin's shooting!

A happy girl on Autopia

 

On the Winnie the Pooh ride

Thumbs up after an awesome day at The Happiest Place On Earth!

6, not 5

The new number is now 6...not 5.

Surgeries, that is.

Yes, this is a HUGE bummer for us. Let's just say that I've been in a huge slump this past week and a half. Ok...I'll backtrack.

We were told from day #1 that Brooke would have 5 surgeries. This would include 2 rounds of 2 surgeries each & then a final touchup surgery...all to equal 5. However, even though we were told 5, we have learned to completely understand that things can change.

We met with Dr. Bauer the last full day of the conference & after one look at Brooklyn he said that the easiest, & best, way to make her face symmetrical is to do another expansion.

Jaw. Drops. Here.

Basically, all I remember was standing out in the hall waiting for it to be our turn; then we went in the room & got to talk with Kristi (his amazingly wonderful scheduler); then he looked at Brooklyn & we talked about lowering that right eyebrow & right hairline; then he said those dreaded words "another expansion"; then it went blank. I pretty much said "OK....OK....OK....yeah, send me an email with available dates....OK....bye". I walked out of there, straight up to our room, then lost it.

I know 6 surgeries isn't as much as other families have to have. And I know it's not the end of the world. But when you have your hopes set on a number...both financially & mentally, then you find out you have to add another surgery - another trip to Chicago, more time off work, more money spent, more hotels, more food, more gas &/or airline tickets, & the list goes on - you literally feel like a bomb has been dropped.

So I had my little "moment" in the hotel while poor little Brooke was looking at me like "what on earth is the matter with you woman". Pulled myself together, reminded myself that the Lord is in control & he actually knew this whole time that she'd have to have 6 surgeries, had a talk with Amie, then just said "ok let's do this", called Dustin, explained everything to him, then went downstairs for dinner.

And that was that.

I got an email just a few days after the conference from Kristi, got dates for later in the fall/winter (what Dr. Bauer wanted), scheduled for December 6, 2012 & February 7, 2013, & the rest is history!





Ok so I wish it was that easy. Well all the physical parts of it were. The mental parts, however, were a completely different story. I got depressed. I mean, not just a little depressed. But I got full-blown into a depression that I was scared I wouldn't get out of. It even scared ME! Poor Dustin didn't know what to do with me, the girls didn't know what happened to their mom, & I was like a sad pitiful zombie everywhere I went. It took me until now to be able to talk about it. Actually for a short while I didn't even tell people that we had to have a whole other round. I didn't want the questions! So I just didn't say anything about it until my "poor us" feelings passed.

But something, thank the Lord, pulled me out of it & pushed me right into Ok-how-are-we-going-to-afford-this mode. So now I'm in a full-blown "we're having 6 surgeries so let's get this show on the road" mood & trying my hardest to brainstorm about how we can physically, emotionally, & financially add another surgery into the mix.

So here we go......

A Week To Change A Life

(To view some deep info from our first conference, see the 3 posts from July 2010.)

These past few days I was in Dallas!! What?! Yeah...I travelled, with Brooklyn, to Dallas, Texas for the 2012 Nevus Outreach Conference. It was a whirlwind, but we managed to get there, visit with tons of people, meet new faces, learn a bit of information, & get back...all in just about 4 days! I went alone back in 2010 but this time Brooke needed to see Dr. Bauer to get a final say on what this last surgery would entail...so she went with. Originally it was supposed to be the 4 of us, because I won a family registration for filling out a survey from the 2010 conference. But when we got right down to it, we couldn't afford 4 plane tickets & the hotel. We wanted to save our money in Brooklyn's account for the last surgery, so we opted to have just Brooklyn & me go. I really missed Dustin & Cali while we were gone, but it was nice because we roomed with a great friend, another nevus mom, & her son (Amie Moller & Zac, who we were in Chicago with in January for our first surgery) while we were there so we only had to pay for half of the room. AND we gave them our extra adult & child free registration. So it was good, even though Dustin & Cali weren't there.

We left bright & early on the 4th of July (cause thankfully our party was on the 3rd) & flew to Denver then to Dallas. We had an "interesting" time on the plane...

...but after some bribing, we ended up on the shuttle bus in Dallas...happy!

 

The first night was a 4th of July party...but I tell you what...it didn't feel like the 4th of July at all. :(  Several of us hated that the conference started on the 4th of July, but that's the dates they were already locked in to. Thankfully though, we had our party the night before. :) 

 

So we had the 4th of July BBQ party, then went to bed. The next 2 full days were filled with speakers, meeting new people, catching up with old friends, & bonding with those super close friends that you'll have for life...just because of a nevus on our children. It's amazing what can bring people together. I wish Brooklyn wasn't born with a nevus, but I thank God that these wonderful people were brought into my life because of it.

 

There was free childcare offered at a local daycare, located right across the parking lot from the hotel we were at. So our kids played at daycare all day while we were in conferences.

 

One of the days, we had several hours of a break, so we talked the hotel into taking us to a mall so we could shop. :)

 

On the shuttle going to the mall

The last full day (Saturday) was the day we had our consult with Dr. Bauer. I'll write about that in the next post...

Saturday night was the big dinner & dance. It was a great dinner & Brooklyn actually didn't do too bad. She loved the hats!

 Mom's & our kids... In the above picture there's a great friend Melissa & her son Aiden, then Me & Brooklyn, & a new mom we met, Amy, with her daughter, Emily. Amie, my good friend & roommate is in the top picture on the far right & in the bottom picture in the middle. Amie was replaced by Beth, another great friend, in the bottom picture on the far right. Whew!!! We were just missing Christine & Josh. :(

Our flights back weren't as rough as the flights there. See for yourself...

And on to the next post to explain our horrible news....

Happy Birthday America!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY AMERICA!!!

 

Like we do every year, this year we had another 4th of July party. It's like waking up in the morning. Automatic. No question about it. We have a party. :o) So of course, this year was like every other!! Take a walk through our 4th of July through pictures....

 

All the goodies I made...

 

Licorice wrapped in festive paper

Strawberry, blueberry, marshmallo kabobs

Amazingly wonderful white chocolate sprinkle strawberries

Strawberry Dessert Squares (and my personal all-time favorite)

Believe it or not, this is the very first cake I've ever made...so why not make it difficult! It was very crumbly (no idea why cause I'm not a baker) but everyone said it tasted good...& it was all gone by the time the night was over!

The fireworks. Nuff said.

And a little play-by-play of this picture.....

BOOM-BOOM-SPARKLE-POW-POP~SPARKLE~POP-POP-BA-BOOM-BOOM~SPARKLE~BOOM-KA-POW-BOOM-POP

 

We hope you all had a safe & happy 4th of July!



Happy 4th Birthday Cali!

Our little girl is 4!!

 

I can't believe I'm saying that! How time has flown by...that's for sure! We had a little party for her on her actual birthday (Wednesday the 27th) & then had her big party tonight. Here are some pictures from her party on Wednesday...

 

Opening up her crown & wand

Pretty happy with them!!

 

And here are some pictures from her party tonight...

 

She wanted her hair curled & make-up on...all dolled up! Plus she had her new t-shirt that says "I'M 4...and whatever it is, I DIDN'T DO IT!!!"......oh so true!!

 

Cali wanted a Strawberry Shortcake theme so we went to birthdayexpress.com & picked out a whole bunch of SS decorations. She loved it all!! The cake, however, was one thing that I loved the most. I went to the store to pick it up & was just so proud of it! I had both the girls with me so I purposefully put it in the back end of our Equinox so it wouldn't get ruined...& so Cali wouldn't see it. When we got home, Dustin went to get Brooke out of the car, but she threw a fit & wanted me to get her. So he opened the back & grabbed the rest of the groceries while I got Cali out of the car first. While Dustin was taking the groceries inside & while I was taking Cali around so she didn't see the cake, Brooke took it upon herself to climb out the back of the car & just get out herself. Well where else was she going to step but right on the cake box! I came back to the car to get Brooke & the cake, when I saw Brooke walking upstairs...& I just had this horrible feeling. I ran to the cake & the whole box was smashed in...& this is what I saw....

I guess it's not horrible, but it's definitely noticeable where she stepped on it (bottom right corner & bottom right of the decal). Oh well though, Cali didn't care & everyone said it still tasted good.

All set up & ready for people to come

 

The grill master

Opening presents

 

One of her favorite presents...a waitress outfit. It even comes with a little menu & writing pad. She LOVES going around taking everyone's orders!

 

Her new bike!

She had an absolutely great week!! Before you know it, she'll be 5! AAAAAGGGHHHHH!!

Life...Caught Up!

Wow time has gone by fast these past few months! There hasn't been a dull moment & we've been busy little bees around here!!! Here's what's been going on in the past couple of months.....

I taught Cali the greatest thing ever...how to lick the batter off the spoon  ;o)

And here she is patiently waiting for the finished product...

On May 12th I had a BBQ for my nursing class. It was a huge THANK YOU to them all for donating our left-over class money to Brooklyn for her surgeries. And it was like a 5-year-reunion...& was much needed!! Some of us hadn't seen others since we graduated. We had 15 graduate & 8 people showed up for the BBQ...it was awesome seeing those that came!!! This picture just shows 7 of us cause one had to leave a little early & none of us even thought to get a picture... :(  In this picture are (from L to R): Tim Ferguson, Marji Vance, Jim Ferguson, Gale Ferguson, Jenn Olson, Me, & Stacie Klemo. Shawna Cantrell is the other who was there but not in the picture. Gonna do it again in 5 more years!! :o)

Took Cali to Curtis' baseball game on Mother's Day...she had a ball!!

Little Brookie in the dress that my grandma made for Cali a few years ago. It fits awesome!

We've been playing outside a lot!! Here's the girls on our slide...having a blast.

Our nephew Taylor had a 5th birthday party the end of May. Here he is with his Angry Birds cake & cupcakes...which he's infatuated with!!!

The girls in their matching Dora pajamas

If anyone knows any contests I can enter this picture in, let me know!!! This is Cali...asleep on the potty, ON the chair, with the iPad in her lap! Priceless!!!

I went to a conference for my nursing license in Helena last week. I got to stay with our high school friend, Misti, & her family. Her & her husband have a 2 month old who I got to love on for a little while. :o)

Brookie flashing a smile...

 Today we thought we'd plant our garden. It's finally "safe" to do it since it probably won't freeze at night anymore (knock on wood). So the girls & I packed in the car & went to the "Flower Store".

Here are the girls with their gloves & tools...ready to work. Too bad it only lasted about 4 minutes...

And here is the finished product!!!! I'm super excited about this cause this is the first garden I've had at this house...& the first garden I've had in about 7 years. So this is a big deal for me!!! :o)

June 12th

June 12th has special meaning in our family...it used to be special just for 1 reason, but in 2010 it became special for 2 reasons. :)

 

I have explained our whole "2-anniversary" story a few times. Our "fake" anniversary is June 12th. We like to celebrate by going out to dinner & exchanging a small present or something. It's the anniversary of the best day of my life. Seriously...June 12, 2004 was THE best day. It was so much fun & I will never forget it as long as I live. I mean, we had all our family & friends around us (well, those that could come) & we all just had the best time ever.

 

In 2010 it became special for another reason, too. It was the day Dustin's younger sister, Marji, got married to Mike. This year Dustin & I had a little surprise for them. We have a deep-freeze in our garage, so we took their cake top & froze it for them to eat on their 1-year anniversary. Well life got in the way & all 4 of us totally forgot about it on their anniversary! Duh!! So on their 2 year anniversary we took Mike's birthday present to their house (his birthday is the day before...on the 11th), along with the cake; & while they were downstairs opening the present up, I ran upstairs, got the cake from the car, & put it in the middle of their table for them to see when they came back up. So here they are, on their 2-year-anniversary, with a 2-year-old cake top...which, I might add, they did eat!

 

And just for good measure, because I don't think I've ever posted pictures from our wedding.... (These are pictures of pictures so they're not the best quality.)

June 12, 2004