GOT LIVER?

Okay...so...my dad is very sick. I am not gonna sugar coat things. Fact is that this week he saw his doctor and he told my dad that he's got another year to live if he doesn't get a new liver. Well...we are not gonna sit around with our bottm lip hanging to the ground. What we gotta do is get a liver. The great thing about liver transplants in that you can have a live donor. The bad thing is that all this costs lots and lots of money. My parents do not have medical insurance and they make too much to qualify for state insurance. I don't know how that's possible when their medical bills already total almost as much as their annual income...(something is dang wrong with the way they decided who gets goverment help and who doesn't!). SO! We need to start fundraising ASAP in a major, raise lots of money sort of a way! From what I can see from the little bit of research I have done, his transplant all included can cost around $500,000+. Yeah...that's a lot of money.

mommy and daddy! from; kaitlyn

mom and dad thank you for all that you do i hope you will have a good anniversary!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! from Kaitlyn  

This is such a LATE post...but I still want these pictures for when I make my blog into a book (whenever I get time to work on that....maybe when my last kid graduates high school. ha!)


So what we have here are a few photos from Kaitlyn's 8th birthday, Adelin's 5th birthday and Easter.


Yeah...I know...that's like forever ago right?

Nov. 3rd 2010....Kaitlyn turned 8! She had a fun party. My friend Alice came and did face painting...and her 1st grade teacher came and sang +played guitar. It was fun. I took more video than photos...and I still don't have any pictures from her baptism. :{



Dec 15, 2010...Adelin turned 5! She loved the doll she got and the tutu's+fairy wings. She had a separate party for friends for her 5th birthday...and I am not sure where the photos are from that!



Easter Sunday 2011. I found these matching suits for the boys right after Christmas. They looked pretty darn cute in them. I tried to get a good shot of all the kids....but either they were being crazy or the lighting was bad! :) I gave up.

Wormy with Kaitlyn at the beavers dam

After playing at Pioneer Park (across the Hwy from us), we walked over to look at the beavers dam. We found that the dam is mostly gone...there must not be any beavers around anymore. But, the kids got their feet wet and Kaitlyn found a cute little friend! I was a tiny little caterpillar....or some caterpillarish type thing.


Did you hear what she said at the end? "Goodbye Wormy! Now you're a movie star!" :)

Daily Activities

I thought I'd post about a few of our Daily Activities.

Today we made ice cream in a bag (click that for details). It's easy...and it actually had a pretty good flavor+consistency! Next time I will be prepared for some add ins (M&M's, Oreos....) It would be a fun summer party activity. Just be prepared to do most of the bag shaking yourself...and for it to take longer than 5 minutes! :) I read that you can also use regular table salt...but we used rock salt.

Yesterday we did noodle art. I put an assortment of noodles on a plate (ziti, spaghetti, rotini, bowtie, fiori) and than I gave the kids another paper plate and they had fun making different faces. When they were done playing around they hot glued the noodles down. I was going to have them paint them when they were done...but they had enough fun without having to get paint involved! Here's a little sample of the kids creativity!

What else have we done? We go to the library every Wednesday. We have racked up a couple of fines due to a page tearing baby....but it's worth it to get out of the house. We also go with a topic (America, plants, food,...) and they look for books on that topic and we get a movie or two on the topic. I totally don't care if they get something on the topic or not...but it does make it seem a little more educational doesn't it? ha!

We've also been on bug hunts, made play dough, went swimming in our Bishops pool, colored patriotic pictures to send to grandparents and did some good ol' fashion running through the sprinklers! We have lots of other things planned...hopefully we will get to do them all...but sometimes life gets in the way...and that's okay! (frustrating...but okay!)

I love this picture. It's from a few months ago. Addie loves to snuggle Connor. He loves her too...but is now getting to be more independent and doesn't love her snuggles as much. :]

Summer is moving right along! I can't believe that school's been out for a month! Where did that month go!?

I finally got the kids on a schedule...it's been a good thing. My favorite time is when we do our daily activity and our 2 hours of quiet time (heaven). I really didn't think my kids actually knew how to be quiet and for SURE not for 2 hours! Sister Bailey (our bishops wife) gave me the idea for having a Daily Activity and Quiet Time everyday. It's been such a blessing. We have our moments when things feel totally out of control...but just having a schedule and a plan for every day sure seems to make us all happier! Today we made fruit sushi. It was fun, yummy and nutrtious!

Looking forward to the 4th of July...and maybe a little rain...

So...Connor's little surgery went really well. He's healing up just fine too. I didn't take pictures because I am certain he wouldn't appreciate that when he's older...but everything looks good! He's a tough kid and hasn't even acted too phased by his incisions. Any grown man would still be lying in bed moaning in pain. It's a good thing to take care of early on! Thanks for your thoughts and prayers!

Brandon had a birthday yesterday! (I pretty much am too darn busy+tired to download pictures. I haven't posted birthday pictures for any birthdays lately. I need to do that. One big birthday picture post.) Anyhow. I hope Brandon had a good birthday. We're glad to have him around and love him for all he does for our family. :) The kids made wrapping paper Monday and wrapped his presents than yesterday they decorated his cake and make signs for him. We had pulled pork burritos with cilantro dressing and it was pretty darn good. Brandon's mom came for dinner+cake+ice cream. We love that she's able to come help us celebrate our birthdays. I think my kids will grow up remembering that Grandma Flake was always there on their birthday.

 Life is moving along over here. We were in Mesa for most of last week letting Connor heal up a bit before making him sit in a car for 3 hours. We shopped and Brandon and the kids swam. Adelin is officially a swimmer. She jumps off the rocks at Celeste's pool and swims to the other side of the pool without a problem. I am SO grateful for that! It gives me comfort to know she can save herself if she were to ever fall into a pool. (not that it'll keep us from watching her and the other kids like a hawk!) Brandon and I also got to go to a Diamond Backs game. We haven't been to one in years. We sat in the outfield bleachers. Willie What'shisface the guy who was playing outfield was nice and kept tossing baseballs to the kids. (not our kids...they were with my parents). It was a good game. We lost. But it was nice to just sit there. I would've have closed my eyes and taken a snooze on Brandon's shoulder if I wasn't afraid of being put up on the big screen. We were sitting by some people who had big posters and flags who were trying to draw attention to themselves. (and succeeding) It would be just my luck for them to catch me with my mouth half open and drooling. So...I stayed awake...and watched the game...and listened to the conversations of people around me. ;)

Oh yeah...Father's Day was Sunday. I owe Brandon breakfast in bed still because we had to rush to pack up our things and get to my Grandpa Newbolds ward in the morning.

Well...the kids need me. Duty calls.