Jenna's Big Day...

Tomorrow Jenna is having her heart cath procedure done to fix her little heart. She has been saying she does not want to have surgery since we found out she needed it. I keep reassuring her but it doesn't seem to help much. Tonight we went to a pre surgery class/tour that they offer at Primary Children's, probably the best hour I have spent in a long time. They showed a video of what will happen the day they come and then the gave each of the future patients a little doll and let them be the Dr. They used the stethescopes and masks and learned all about IV's and everything the Dr will use to help them. Then we took a tour of the operating rooms and post op rooms. Jenna was actually excited about having surgery by the time we left. Her loose tooth even fell out while we were there. She said she was the luckiest girl ever because she lost a tooth and gets to have surgery. We will see if she still feels that way after tomorrow.


Here she is being the Dr to her doll patient that she got to bring home.


Here she is showing of her missing tooth, she is so excited to see what the tooth fairy brings. By the way, does anyone know how big the tooth fairy is? Jenna was wondering. She thinks she must be pretty small since she is a fairy.


Here she is eating her last snack before bed and then it's no more food until post op. She is looking forward to the popsicles and slushies they told her she can have. I am going to try and take lots of pics tomorrow to document this event. Maybe I will even post during the day form the hospital (again, love my laptop!). Wish us luck!

WEEN in Denver

Mike & I took a quick trip to Denver last week to see our favorite band, WEEN. We got buddy passes from his brother which was nice especially since it was a quick trip. The kids spent one night at Mike's parents and then my sister picked them up and kept them the rest of the time. She took them swimming, to a drive in movie, and the zoo; I don't think they missed us at all. Mike got in a little skateboarding with a friend, I got some homework done online (I love my laptop!), we hung out by the pool, visited with an old friend, and rocked out to Ween 2 nights in a row. They played for about 2 1/2 hours each night and only played 1 song both nights. Yep, they have that many songs and are that talented. I know most people have not even heard of them but they have a huge following and are amazing musicians. It was fun to get away for a few days for a much needed break. Thanks Mike!

My Funny Girl

The last few days Jenna has been cracking me up with some "interesting" comments.

The first one was last Friday on our way to the pool. Her friend Natalie was in the car with us and the Jonas Brothers came on the radio.
Jenna: "Do you like the Jonas Brothers?"
Natalie: "I don't know who they are."
Jenna: "They are the hottests guys in the universe, the hottest!"

Then on Sunday I was helping her get ready for church.
J: "I want to look reallly beautiful today."
Me:"Why?" J:"Because Braden is going to be there." (her little "boyfriend" had been gone on vacation for a couple weeks) I told Mike what she had said and so when he saw her already for church he told her she looked beautiful and this was her reply: "I have to look beautiful so Braden will want to marry me." WHAT?!?!? I don't know where she gets this from?

Then the other night we were all sitting around watching tv or something and she said or did something and Mike gave her the Nelson Ha, Ha laugh. She looked at him and said no one Ha, Ha's me. I busted up!

I am glad she can make me laugh, she makes my day!

Look What I Did Today...

Got some Veet (same as Nair)...

Spread it on the legs...

And watched my "baby" get smooth, hairless legs!


Ry asked me a few weeks ago about shaving her legs. Mike has made comments as well since she does have pretty hairy legs. I didn't really want her to start shaving yet, it is shuch a pain and I was a little worried about her cutting herself. She is in a leotard 4 days a week and with all the swimming we have been doing, I knew something needed to be done. So we tried this instead and it worked great! I told her it is way better than shaving but it would still make her less self conscious about her hairy legs. I can't believe she is old enough to be doing this....

Our View of Summer

Our summer has already had many days spent poolside and with the temps as hot as they are we will continue to have days like this:


Jenna worn out from the sun, the swimming, the snacks, the playing with friends, and the rest of the fun that comes along with the a day at the pool.


Jenna with 2 of her best friends hanging out at the pool. It's always more fun with friends. One more thing I love about the rec center: always friends to cool off with.


This is my view most days at the pool. I love soaking up the sun and watching the kids splash. A lot of days I bring along a text book to read as well, would rather be reading a novel by the pool, but it's a good time to get some extra studying in.

4th of July Weekend

We had a nice little weekend. It started out Thursday evening when we went to watch the big firework show up at the golf course here in NSL. It was soooo hot that day that we decided to just go up for fireworks. We found a spot on the road to park and the kids sat on the grass and watched. They were enjoying themselves until someone's sprinklers came on and they got all wet. Mike & I were sitting in the car and thought about leaving them out in the sprinklers, only for a second though.
On Friday morning we headed over to our church for the annual neighborhood breakfast. It's always fun to spend a little time with friends just catching up on what everyone is up to. Mike had to work for part of the day and then we headed up to my mom and dad's for a BBQ. Mom had knee replacement surgery a few weeks ago and is still recovering. Dad bought a slip and slide and a little pool for the kids to play in, they LOVED it! Then he bbq'd some hamburgers, hot dogs, and brauts which were all yummy. We ate and visited and played games and then when it was dark enough we went outside to light off some fireworks. It was a lot of fun, they live in a cul de sac so there were others out setting them off too.

Saturday I had to work all day so Mike took the kids bowling. When I got home we were all so tired from all the late nights and fun so we crashed. An overall nice weekend.

Grandma Susie and Jenna watching fireworks.

My dad LOVES music (I think that's where I get it from) and the car they bought last year has a "boom box" attached to the back door for tailgating. So he cranked some tunes (Neil Young) for us as we wathced the fireworks.

My pyro! Mike only set off one illegal one this year, but my parents neighbor had some great big ones he was setting off, they were really cool.

Noah on the slip and slide, they all enjoyed cooling off before dinner.

This is a pic of the kids on July 3rd watching the fireworks before they got all wet.

Our Health

My baby, isn't she so sweet!

I have been to 3 different doctors appointments this week. One for myself, one for Rylee, and one for Jenna. I have been having intermintent chest pains and difficulty breathing. I ketp putting off calling the Dr. but finally decided I better have it checked out. My EKG was normal and so was all my blood work (they checked for lots of things) so now I am wearing a little heart monitor for 2 weeks. I am suppose to wear it 24/7 except when showering or swimming and any time I feel my syptoms I push a button to record for a minute or so. I started wearing it on Tuesday and have had no syptoms since I have had it on, go figure. Anyway, we will see what it says. Ry unfortunately has plantars warts on her foot and a little bit of athlete's foot. I am sure it is due to the fact that she never wears shoes and is at the gym 12 hours a week. I just hope the plantars worts will go away, from what I understand they are a little tricky to treat. Jenna had her appointment with the pediatric cardiologist to see about the heart murmur her Dr found at her 5 year check up. I feel very blessed to live so close to such an incredible children's hospital like Primary's. I love how they treated Jenna as well as Mike & I. She had an EKG like I did. She also had an Echo (an ultrasound of her heart). She had to lay there for 1/2 an hour or so and was so good. They let her pick a movie and she laid back and watched while I sat and watched the "movie" of her heart. To me it was all very interesting. I am glad I recently finished my anatomy and physiology classes so that I understood most of what the Dr talked to us about. I was also able to listen and could hear her murmur which sounded like water running over rocks in a stream, weird. She has PDA (patent ductus arteriolis) which means that one of her ducts that she needed in utero never fully closed off. Her left atria is also a little dialated from working a little extra. She is going to have a procedure done on July 22 to fix it. They will go in with a catheter through an artery in her groin. They will then "drop off" a tiny coil that will close up her little hole. It is an outpatient procedure so should not be too bad. I am just grateful they can do it that way instead of surgery. I see lots of sick people working at the ER and feel very blessed each day for my family's health. I also feel very blessed to have health insurance (even though Ithink that whole system needs an overhaul) and wonderful facilities and dr.s right here in our backyard.