Quick Trip to UT

Well, as you all know, things went south for my dear sweet momma pretty fast.  The day after Mother's Day I got a phone call from my dad letting me know that mom was NOT doing well & that we didn't know if she would make it through or not.  I literally hopped on the next flight out of Monterey.  

Trek was a saint & stayed home with all 5 kids for a WHOLE WEEK.  He missed all of his classes even.  Poor guy.  I'm SO blessed to be married to such a sweetheart.

Though the circumstances were not pleasant, the company at the hospital was.  I would go in & sit with my mom every day for a few hours here & there, & then I'd wait out in the waiting room with all the visitors who came to check on mom.  I loved visiting with family that I hadn't seen or talked to in YEARS.

The best part of the entire trip was spending time with my sweet little niece & handsome little nephew.  I love them SO much & never get to see them.  It was SO fun for me to get in some cuddle time.

Every meal of every day was spent in the hospital cafeteria.  I was surprised at how good it actually was.  Cafeteria food is usually disgusting, but this stuff was healthy, tasty, & there was a HUGE variety.  The best part was that it was dirt cheap too.  Dad & I could eat a biscuit & gravy breakfast with ham, bacon, scrambled eggs, & yogurt for $4.00 total (for both meals).

I loved it when my Uncle Kevin & Uncle Brent flew in from AZ. (Mom's 2 brothers) I hadn't seen them in probably 6 years.  I loved talking & telling stories with them.  It helped me to keep a happy face on when emotions were eating me up inside.

I never officially had a shift that made me sleep at the hospital, but my dad, grandma, Brent, & Kevin did.  I would always laugh when I'd get back to the hospital at the crack of dawn & find them crouched up on 3 or 4 chairs trying to sleep.  Poor guys were such troopers.

It was crazy how I was there a full week & couldn't figure out what day it was by the end of my visit.  The days & hours just start to melt into each other.  It seemed like I was there for an eternity.  Poor mom.  I hope she comes out of this.

Grandma kept putting her hearing aids in Brent's ears because he couldn't hear anything we were saying to each other.  He was HILARIOUS.  He was walking around the room clapping & laughing at all the sounds he could hear with the hearing aids in that he couldn't without them.  I was SO happy to have these little moments of laughter in between all the stress & tears.

We had SO MANY VISITORS.  It was WONDERFUL.  I didn't get a picture of everyone, but I tried to get some of most of them.  It was REALLY nice having Dad's whole family there.  I miss my Aunts & Uncles on the Sorensen side, as well as all the cousins my age that I used to play with as a child.

Unfortunately, I could only stay one week & then I had to come home & take care of my own family.  Mom did really well for a while, & then she just tanked again on Memorial Day.  She heart actually stopped & she died for 6 minutes.  But leave it to my mom to push through.  After 6 minutes her heart started beating again & she's once again fighting.  Someday I hope to be as strong as she is.

We still don't know if she is going to pull through in the end, but she's fighting & we hope she comes out of it all.  We love her so much & can't imagine life without her, but we also know that if she passes away, it's not the end.  We will be together again.  I'm so grateful for a testimony of Jesus Christ & the Resurrection.  We'll be together again in the eternities because we have been sealed together as a family for time & all eternity.

Little Fish

I've sure enjoyed having all 4 kids in Private Swimming Lessons the last couple of months.  They've grown by leaps & bounds in just a short time. 

Bladen isn't so scared of the water anymore.  Taya can put her face in & hold her breath now.   Lorien isn't such a spaz in the water & can now swim quite smoothly.  And Cadence is amazing.  We will have to put her on a swim team at our new base.  She can swim amazingly fast & smooth in every style.  

I'm glad they love it.  I love my fishes.

Oakland Temple Trip & Mother's Day

There is just nothing like being on the temple grounds.  Trek & I had the opportunity to do sealings in the Oakland Temple on May 12th as well as watch all the kids in our ward so their parents could attend an endowment session.  Our friends watched our kids while we did an hour of sealings which was fabulous.

Before all the other kids showed up, we took our kids around the temple grounds to let them admire the peace & beauty of it as well as feel of the Lord's spirit there.  I always leave the temple SO HAPPY & so do they.

This was Craiger's first time visiting the temple.  He loved all the pretty flowers.

On our way home from the temple, we stopped at the Arby's in Gilroy for my "Mother's Day Dinner."  

Yup, I picked Arby's over Outback, Applebees, & any other fancy schmancy steakhouse.  I love Arby's but we don't have one near us so I jump at any opportunity I can to have a Beef & Cheddar sandwich.  I know, I'm pretty pathetic, but they're GOOD.  I was SO HAPPY.

Trek also bought me 2 pounds of fresh cherries from a local fruit stand there in Gilroy as well.  Can we say HEAVEN?

Mother's Day was wonderful.  Trek made me some toast & cherries for breakfast.  Then at church all the men did the women's callings for them so they could meet together for a yummy Mother's Day dessert.  (That was the highlight of my day.)  Then after church I got to open my presents.  Trek bought me another pirate princess watch just like the one I had for 5 years that finally broke.  I was SO excited to have another one.  

It was a great day.  The only thing that was missing was being able to talk to my mom.  She was in the hospital not doing well after a surgery so I couldn't talk to her.  (Little did I know at that time that it was about to get MUCH worse)  I love my mommy.  She made me who I am today.  I am grateful for her example, love, & friendship.  

Happy Mother's Day.

Teacher Appreciation Day

Today is Teacher Appreciation Day.

I REALLY appreciate my girls' teachers this year.  They have been fantastic with my girls.  They have found their strengths & pushed them above & beyond, & they have found their weaknesses & made them their strengths.  I'm SO grateful for both of them.

For Teacher Appreciation Day I wanted to give them something that represented how the girls felt about them.  I immediately thought of flowers.  My girls were just buds at the beginning of the school year & they have bloomed & have grown SO much.  So I found these cute little yellow planters at Target for $3. In the left one, I put seeds for them to grow themselves.  In the center we made a pencil bouquet of sharpened pencils. The girls each made construction paper flowers to attach to the top of the pencils, & then we stabilized them in split peas.  And on the right I made some homemade chocolate rose suckers & stabilized them in white rice.

To each gift we attached a poem that the girls & I wrote:

A new year began & I was scared;

Once again everything was new.

In a great big classroom that we all shared

That’s where I met you.

You took me in like a little flower,

You knew just what to do.

Your love to me was like a shower.

Because of you I grew.

Our time together was gone too soon

But I’ll never take your teachings for granted.

Thank you dear teacher for helping me bloom.

I’m thankful with you I was planted.

They couldn't wait to give these to their teachers this morning.  I hope they liked them. We sure had a blast putting them all together.

Cinco de Mayo

So what would Cinco de Mayo be without a PARTY?

Actually, I hadn't planned much of anything to celebrate it.  I was planning on making tacos for dinner, but that was it.  Once my girls heard that there wasn't some huge party going on, they got right to work & planned their own.

It was kind of fun to see me rub off on them a little bit.  When Cinco de Mayo did come, we ended up having a GREAT party indeed.

They started on Thursday night by making a homemade piñata.

Cadence drew a donkey on a big poster board & then Lorien colored it & made a tail for each member of the family.

What's Cinco de Mayo without Pin the Tail on the Donkey right?  ha ha ha.

Then we broke into the homemade piñata.  They made it SO well that we had to force break it.

We ate our taco dinner & listened to some fun Latin music.  Then we all got up & started dancing.  It was SO MUCH FUN.

Thank you Cadence & Lorien for a FANTASTIC party that I didn't even have to plan.  You girls are the best girls in the world.

Bladen's Family Birthday Party

At the end of the day, we let Bladen open up all his FUN presents from the family.  He got some REALLY cool toys that even I can't wait to play with.

Mimi & Baba bought him a REALLY cool Pirates of the Caribbean 

pirate ship.  

It has hidden compartments, a shooting cannon, Blackbeard & Cpt. Jack Sparrow, & it has secret messages all over the boat when you hold a black light up to it.  Yes, this is a fun one.

However, it was REALLY hard to put together.  Trek spent HOURS figuring it all out while the little ones took their nap.

How awesome is that?  I would have loved this as a kid.

Grandma Kinsfather & Mamoo both got Bladen $10 each so we get to go shopping for something fun this weekend to spend his money on.

Auntie Cari & Uncle Justin got him a super fun dinosaur dig set.  I also would have loved this as a kid.

Nancy sent Bladen a few outfits, a kite, some shoes, & a pirate blanket (that I made with the fabric she sent.)

Auntie Char & Uncle Jay send an adorable PIRATE OUTFIT for him.  Now he won't take it off.

Opa & Oma also had pirate on the brain.  They bought him an ADORABLE wooden Pirate Ship.  I LOVE Melissa & Doug products.  This is SO MUCH FUN.

The kiddos got their brother a set of wooden blocks to build towers (& destroy them)

And Trek & I bought him a Darth Vader light saber with action sounds.  He LOVES swords & boy does he love this!

However, it didn't take long for Daddy to steal it from him so he could have a turn.  They are LOVING having sword fights together now.

 Last weekend, Tylee came to visit & she brought Bladen a magna doodle toy & Auntie Marc brought the cutest little outfit. 

Bladen had a SUPER FUN birthday this year.  Thank you all for making it magical.

Happy Birthday Mannos!

Bladen's 3rd Birthday Breakfast/Brunch

Since Bladen's birthday party was on his ACTUAL BIRTHDAY this year, we opted for a birthday brunch instead of a birthday breakfast.  I was still working on that crazy pirate ship cake & I wanted to make sure I could make his breakfast SPECIAL & not rushed so we waited until after his birthday party & had breakfast for lunch instead.

He got his favorite breakfast foods: 

Pirate Skull shaped chocolate chip pancakes,

scrambled eggs with cheese & bacon,

& a ding dong of course.

Happy Birthday Bladen Boy!