A few pictures from our Utah trip

My cousin Heston, Brandi and their kids, Amanda (my best friend) and her 3 girls, Sam, Dawn, the kids and Tj & Shaylee all came over to roast hot dogs and marshmallows over the fire. Yummy, Smores!!

BBQing in my mom's back yard.

Brandi, Shaylee and myself at the park.

(Baby Addy is there too)

Mom, Dad with the kids

We took a few family pictures at the park. We we able to get everyone except for Damian who had to stay in IL for work.

Family picture summer 2009

Congrats to Matt & Amy!!! Matt surprised us all and proposed to Amy one of the nights after a family BBQ. We are so happy that Amy will officially be part of the family. They still have not set a date but we are guessing it will be late spring or early summer.

Matt proposing to Amy

We had lots of fun activities planned for the whole 2 weeks. We were able to see lots of friends and family. We went to the dinosaur park, mini golfing, the hot air balloon festival, Lagoon, Seven Peaks, a Raptors game, the fair and demolition derby, canoeing, play dates with friends, fishing at the trout farm, and to a splash park. We had movie night at the Hawks cousins and so so much fun! Thank you everyone for spending so much time with us, it was great seeing all of you.

Hot air balloon festival

Papa & the girls fishing

Tj & Shaylee at the derby

Us at a Raptors game

Sam & Tj at their Birthday BBQ

Happy Birthday boys!!!!

Dawn & the kids

Areya's first day of Kindergarten

Areya started her first day of Kindergarten on Aug 25th. (I know, I'm a little late posting) She has morning Kindergarten and goes from 8:30 - 11:00. We are far enough away from school that she has to ride a bus. (which she loves) The only part I don't enjoy is being at the bus stop an hour before school even starts. Wow, that's so early for me!

Areya loves school and really likes her teacher. She comes home with tons of stories of what they learned and all the exciting things she saw on the bus ride. (like a dead deer)

Aniela on the other hand is not sure she likes her big sister gone for so long. She still looks around the house for her and you can hear her talking to Areya's empty bed in the morning. (Areya has a loft bed and so Aniela never knows if sister is up there or not)

It is hard to think that my baby is old enough to start elementary school. I know, I got an extra year because of her late birthday but still it happens way to fast.

Another trip to the hospital for Damian

On Wednesday Damian went to the doctor because he is still not feeling well. He is still having dizziness, some pain in his side, heart palpations, weight loss, and tightness in his chest. He as also been having non stop adrenaline go through his system so the doctor decided to admit him and run a series of tests. So as soon as he got back from his appointment (which is in downtown Chicago) we had to find someone to watch the kids for that night and the next day. Luck for us we have some really great friends in Arlington Heights who were willing to help us out. Thank you to both the Smith and Peterson families!!!!! You were a huge live saver. After dropping them off we drove back downtown to St. Mary's Hospital to be admitted. After about 30 min they were able to find him a room and got things underway. They took blood, did an EKG, CAT scan, urine test (2) 24 hour tests), took more blood, and was hooked to a heart monitor the whole time. By the time every thing was said and done we were there just over 27 hours.

And what did we find out?

1. His heart is healthy
2. He dose not have diabetes
3. His thyroid is fine
4. They found a mass in his stomach and we have to follow up with another doctor to see what it is.

That's just about it. We are still waiting for the results from some of the blood and urine tests which should be back in about 2 weeks.

We are thinking at this point that he may have an over active adrenal gland or that the mass in his stomach may be pressing on the adrenal gland. The doctor did mention that there may be a tumor some where which is causing the problems but was not able to see one on the CT so we are really praying that there isn't one.

This has been going on since April and we both really want some answers. He has missed a lot of work and never feels good anymore so if you could please keep us in your prayers we would appreciate it. Thank you to all of you for the support and help and prayers we have received, it really means a lot.

Some fun pictures

I have not gotten the girls pictures taken in a while so I found a few and but this together. I down loaded the program called Picasa and it has a lot of fun options to edit pictures and create all the collages you see on my blog.

This one is of Areya and her cousins while on our trip to Tennessee.

House warming BBQ

On Saturday July 25th we had a house warming / pioneer day BBQ. We invited a few friends from our old ward in Arlington Heights up. I am so happy that you were all able to come. We had a great time. Thanks for making the drive. If anyone has some pictures would you please e-mail me they. I didn't really get to many. Thanks again!

Tennessee Trip 2009

We made it to Tennessee and had a great time. (For those of you that don't know, my mom's sister and mother live in TN) My parents flew into O'Hare again and they drove down with us so that I had a little help. It was nice having the extra hands, Thanks Mom and Dad for all the help!

This time Lacy, Cody, the twins Alisa & Angie, and Julius drove over from Colorado.

We also had Josie and her baby.

My Grandma made all the girls cute matching outfits. They turned out so cute thank you Grandma Great!

We had a nice 4th of July BBQ and then did a few fireworks in the drive way. There were so many other people doing the big fireworks that we all we had to do was look up to get a great show. I think the girls went through about 400 sparklers and amazingly we only had one small burn.

We spent a few days camping at the lake and took a few rides on Uncle Mike's boat. We built sandcastles, went swimming and cooked hobo dinners, hot dogs and smores over the fire. Yummy! In the lower left hand corner of the picture are my two swimsuit supermodels posing for you. The girls also got to go fishing and even caught one. And now for my favorite of the group: Aniela asleep in the chair with her arm still in the Cheetos bag.

We also took a tubing trip down the river. We were able to go down twice and had had a quick lunch in between. Aniela was so tired from her first trip down that she fell asleep in my lap for most of the second trip. It was amazing how well she slept while floating down a river and even over a little white water.

On our way home from tubing we stopped to look out over the Smokey Mountains.

And of course most of our free time was spent in Kim and Mike's pool. I think we were all part fish by the end of the trip.Thanks again Mike and Kim for having us, we really had a great time. Can't wait for you to come and stay with us next summer.

Damian's heart

Damian has been off work for the past 2 1/2 weeks because he is still have problems with his heart. He went back to the doctor and she adjusted his meds and put him on a few new ones. He also had a stress test which came back good. We still aren't sure why and what is going on. He stayed home alone (with the dog) the whole time the girls and I were in Tennessee which was no fun, I'm sure. The doctor gave him a week of bed rest and he was scheduled to go back to work this Friday. Happy to announce that he did make it into work on Friday and so far has been doing pretty good. Let's hope he continues to feel well.

He has also asked us to pray for him, which is a big deal for Damian, so if you could all keep him in your prayers that would be great. Thank you!

Where we are now.....

Well it has been forever since I last posted but I do have good reason for that. We are finally Illinois home owners. We closed in the middle of March and have been working on getting it livable ever since. We are living in the basement which for the most part is livable. (I say most part because we had a huge storm the other day which flooded the basement and garage which houses everything we own.) I have been paint my hands off and still have a bathroom and half of the laundry room to do. We pulled the nasty (cat pee) carpet and have installed tile in the living room. We are now waiting for the carpet to be installed in the bedrooms and family room. We sure have had a lot of ups and downs with this house and I am starting to think that we got in way over our heads with this one. Let's hope the rest goes smoothly and quickly. I will try to get some before and after pictures up here soon.

FATHER'S DAY

I am very thankful for my in-law's who have done so much while here for a visit. I am also thankful for my dad who taught me how to mud and tape a wall, use a hammer, paint, tend a garden and to work hard. I never really thought I would need those things but look at me now. I am also very thankful for my husband who is doing his best to make everything work out just right. It has been a hard and very stressful last couple of months and he has been wonderful. We got Damian plants for the garden and this Ice cream cake for father's day. Thanks again for everything honey, I love you!

UPDATE from last post

As for my last post, thank you for every ones support. Damian found out that he had an infection in his heart and that was the reason for the problems. The infection has cleared but the doctor is keeping him on the heart medicine for the next 6 months just to be sure. As for the crazy lady with the dog. She apologized to us and we were able to get out of our lease. So that all worked out well in the end.

WHAT'S NEXT

My parents are flying in and we are driving down to Tennessee for a visit with my aunt & uncle, grandma, and cousin and her family. We will be there 10 days , I am so looking forward to this trip, I need a break from all the craziness. Damian took his time off while his parents were here so he can't go with us. Than in Aug we are flying to Utah for two weeks to spend some much needed time with friends and family. It has been over a year since I have seen most of them and I am really, really looking forward to this trip. We have one more trip planned in Sept but I'll tell you more about it when it get closer.

Too much to handle

***Just so you know this post is pretty long and is mostly me complaining so if you want to stop reading now I understand.***

Do you ever feel like you have way to much stress and problems and it is too much to handle? I know we all do but it seems like everything always hits at once. The past few weeks have about pushed me over the edge. I guess I don't do this kind of stress well because I am loosing my mind.
It all started (well maybe not started but got to the extreme level) about 2 weeks ago when Damian was taken by ambulance to the hospital. He was having chest pain, a hard time breathing, almost passed out at work and his blood pressure was some thing like 190/120. After a quick trip to the ER they put in an IV and diagnosed him with having an anxiety attack. After a short time they put him in the hall so they could use his room and then released him with a RX for anxiety meds. (No real tests were performed) He was standing outside the hospital by the time I got there. Damian's chest was still hurting and he was feeling like crap so we went home and rested the rest of the day. The next morning he felt the same, so he stayed home from work and because all this took place on a weekend we were not able to get him into see a doctor until Monday. He found out that he has a heart arrhythmia with hypertension. Why this is going on we are still not sure but while the tests are being processed they have him on beta blockers. He is feeling much better and has gone back to work and has a follow up appointment with the doctor next week to see what they found out.

Next level of stress is that we have still not closed on this house. We have been approved for the loan and it has been processed. We are now waiting for the appraisal to come back before they can set a closing date. We have been waiting for several weeks for them to get this report in and we only have 6 more days until our cut off date. (The contract says that we must close by the 12th) If we go over that cut of date then they will charge us $150 per day we go over. You know those shows on TV where people buy their first home and every thing goes so fast and smoothly, well that defiantly is not the case with us, it has taken us over a year to find and buy this home.

And finally the tipping of the scale........
Sunday morning Ida took our dog Mekie for a walk, all the sudden I hear screaming and dogs fighting. I run to the window to see the neighbors dog (not on a leash) running back into their house after getting it's butt kicked by my Mekie. I guess what happened was that our neighbor, who is the manager of our complex, opened the door right as Ida and Mekie were walking by. Her little dog ran out and tried to attack Mekie but she was not having that and defended herself, picking up the little monster and shaking it a bit. Ida did her best to keep the little dog away and had Mekie by the collar holding her back. The neighbor tried to go after their dog but she just had surgery and could not get there in time. Ida and Mekie finished their walk and came home.
* I just want to add in a few side notes here.
Rules
1. In our complex the rule is that your dog must be on a leash at all times when outside.
2. You can not leave your dog tied up outside unattended at any time.
3. You must clean up (right away) after your dog.
Facts
1. The neighbor's dog has left nasty little gifts for us on our patio.
2. She leaves her dogs tied up outside unattended all the time.
3. Her dog was not on a leash when all of this took place.
4. She is the manager over the complex and she does not abide by any of them.
*Keeping those things in mind I continue my story.

Later the that day the girls and I are outside enjoying the sun and the neighbor makes a comment that her dog was attacked this morning. I already knowing this because it was my dog that was involved said "I know it was my dog that yours attacked". I guess she was pretty mad about this fact and went off on me saying that her dog was hurt pretty bad and that it was luck that it did not hit a vain or her dog would have been dead. I told her it was not my fault that her dog was not on a leash and it came after my dog. She told me that she knows that it's not our fault but that we need to keep better control of our dog and that who ever was walking her did not have enough control of her. At this point I was getting pretty mad so I told the girls it was time to go inside. On my way in I said again that it was not our fault that their dog was not on a leash and was not the one to blame, the husband then said "if I thought it was your fault I would have called to police already". They then asked me if she had her rabies shots and I informed them that she was current on all of them. A little while later Damian got a call at work asking him if we had proof of our dogs vaccinations and told him that he needed to bring them into the office. He informed me of this and I told him the whole story. We looked up our rental agreement and there is no where that states we have to show proof of this to them so I didn't think it was fair of them to ask for it. I decided not to take it in and to file a police report to cover ourselves. We made the report showed the police officer the vaccination records and thought that would be the end of it, Wrong!

Today we got a call from the corporate office saying that me must remove our dog for the premises and that after I showed proof of liability for my pet on or renters insurance I could bring her back but that she must be muzzled at all time. (What the heck? Her dog attacks mine and we get in trouble for it.) I lost it! (I went off on the lady and got so mad that she almost hung up on me, that is when Damian took over) I guess they compromised on letting Mekie stay but we still have to show them the proof of our insurance and I guess we are asked to keep a muzzle on her when she is outside. From what we understand the lady for the corporate office was told, by our neighbor (the Manager) that our dog attacked hers and that Mekie is dangerous. I am sick and tired of her breaking all the rules and us getting in trouble even though we haven't done anything wrong.

Sorry about how long this post is and to be such a whinny baby. I guess it would help if I got a little more sleep at night, that way I might not be so grumpy.

Fire Station & Indoor Swimming Pool

Areya had 2 Field trips this month, one to the Fire Station and the other to the Arlington Heights indoor swim pool.

Here are a few pictures.

The indoor swimming pool was really cool they had an area for kids that starts at 1inch and goes to 2.5 ft. The kids all had a blast and were able to play with out life vests.

I didn't plan to get in the water so I didn't take Aniela's swim suit (we all know how hard it is to keep a baby out of water) so she was soaking wet by the time we left. At least they had a great time.

Easter 2009

Happy Easter Everyone!

We had a really nice Easter this year, after getting up to see what the Easter bunny left and finding all the egg we got ready for church. We happened to have stake conference this week and so our meeting was a little later in the day and only 2 hours. After church the Smith family invited us over for dinner, which was really fun. The kids had so much fun together that is was hard to get them out the door when it was time to leave. Thank you Brent and Amy for having us over.

I was able to get of few cute pictures of the girls in their matching dresses that Uncle Matt sent. Thank you Uncle Matt for the dresses, Grandma and Grandma Great for the goodies.

After Damian got home we all sat down and had another Easter dinner with him and Ida. Thank you Ida for helping with dinner.

Tj & Shaylee's visit

My brother Tj and his wife Shaylee came for a visit this past week. It was so nice to see them, it has almost been a year since we saw them last. (which for me is a very very long time) This was their first time to Chicago (Tj and my dad drove our stuff here from Utah so he did spend a few days here during the summer but we never made it to the city) so we decided to buy city passes and do the sights. It includes the Shedd Aquarium, The Field Museum, Adler Planetarium, Museum of Science & Industry and either the John Hancock Observatory or Sears Tower.

We have been to the Shedd several time but have not made it to any of the others so this was a new experience for all of us. One the first day we went to the Field Museum and the Planetarium. It turned out to be the "Far out Friday" at the planetarium and had fun stuff going on after it got dark. We watched a few shows and looked around. On our way back to the car after a long day of walking we stopped and got a few pictures of Lake Michigan and played on the toys just outside of Soldiers Field.

The next day we went downtown again, this time to the Sears Tower and Navy Pier. The top floor was under construction so we only got to go to the 99th floor.

After the tower we spent s few hours walking the pier and getting some lunch. On our way home we stopped at the beach/park area so they could see the Lake up close. Even though is was freezing we still had a fun time playing at the park.

Sunday was General Conference and we decided to go to the church for the in between sessions pot luck. After we got home Areya, Shaylee and Aniela played make-up (Areya had been begging us to play every night so we finally gave in) and even got Tj in on the fun. Thanks Uncle Tj for being a good sport and letting Areya paint your toe nails.

Monday was Damian's day off but he had to go sign some papers on the house and did not get to go with us to the Museum of Science & Industry. It was really neat and had lot of stuff to do and see.

Tuesday was their last day and Aniela's birthday. Damian also had this day off and was able to go with us to the Aquarium. Part of the Aquarium is under construction right now so we missed out on the dolphins and whales. Which is the best part but we were able to catch a 4D show which was fun for everyone except Aniela, who cried through most of it.

We really had a great time and loved having Tj and Shaylee visit. Thank you for coming to see us we miss you guys so much.

Aniela turned 2!

I can't believe my baby is 2! Where did the past 2 years go? She is getting so big, is learning so much and wants to be just like her big sister. It makes me sad to think that she is not my little baby any more. ( I guess this is when most people try for another one)

Anyway Aniela is so much fun she has such a great personality. She loves her daddy and sister so much and can't wait for them to get home from work / school. She likes riding her bike, playing with bubbles and taking baths. Her favorite color is purple and her favorite food is cereal.

Here are the pictures of Aniela from birth to now.

11 days old

1st birthday

2nd birthday


Happy Birthday Aniela! We love you so much and are blessed to have you in our family.

Happy Happy Birthday to us!

We celebrated Damian's 30th birthday on March 3rd and my ___ th birthday on April 1st. Man are we getting old!! It is amazing how fast time flies, it is hard to believe that I have 2 kids and have been married 7 1/2 years. Any way for Damian's big 3 0 I wanted to throw a party for him and invite his friends over but he just want to go out to dinner with his girls. It was nice just spending time together as a family. Happy Birthday sweet heart, I love you and am so grateful for all that you do for our family.

For my birthday we did not get to do any thing because Damian had to work but it all worked out fine because the next day Tj & Shaylee arrived for a visit, which made it feel like my birthday all week long.

Maple days

Areya had a field trip to the River Trails Nature Center where they learned how to make Maple syrup. They took us out into the Maple woods and told us how the trees get the sap that is needed to make the syrup. Then they drilled a hole and put in the spout. They let the kids taste the sap right from the tree. After that we headed over to the "sugar shack" where they cook the sap and turn it into syrup. We did not see that part of the process but they told us how it works, It was really neat to see and learn about.


They also have a few animals and other thing for the kids to do and see while they are there. They had a great activity room where the kids have lots of hands on stuff to do. I think we will have to make another trip there soon to see what else they have.