Happy Birthday America!

Candle Tree of Fire!
We celebrated the 4th of July at home this year. (Ok we do every year!) We had a delicious BBQ with Papa Mark, Wendy and my lil'est bro Logan! We didn't get to any festivities, but it was good to just stay home and relax and NOT deal with bazillions of people.

Gar..the grill-miester extraordinaire!

Me and my little dude!

Shantel and Kallie

Papa Mark, Wendy and Logan

Me and my littlest Bro Logan....after a year, you would think he would smile a little more when I hole him....NOT the case. He still looks at me as if he has never seen me before. He must be playing hard to get. This picture was taken right before the....dum dum dummmmmm...

Incident!

(see below)

YES....he peed right on me! What a sweet boy for sharing!

What is a 4th of July celebration without

FIREWORKS !
I know we went all out to make this celebrations real good!

Logan's first firework extravaganza!!! He wasn't sure what to think, but hey he didn't cry!

G-Man our pyro-technician!

The kids love sparklers. Kallie and Shantel spell their names with the sparks and Keeg just loves waving it around!

It was a great time and very low key. The fireworks lasted just long enough to keep the kids entertained and ended when the kids started getting bored.

Happy Birthday and Father's Day!!

I know it is wrong to combine two celebrations into one. And as you may know having 2 kids with birthdays around Christmas, you know I am all about separating the 2 celebrations. Well, usually Father's Day and Gary's birthday are no different, except for this year. This year we really splurged for a gift and got Gary the gift of his dreams and of his lifetime. His brand Harley! He has been talking for years about buying one (thanks MDA ride) and ever since we rented one and went on the big ride to Wendover he has been dying for one. I had joked around saying "yeah, get one. It will be your birthday and Father's day gift (for the rest of your life!). Well low and behold he really looked into it. Which is OK with me since I love riding just as much.

Here is our Brand new TOY!

Gar taking it for a ride!

As you also may know, Gary is a little obsessive when it comes to the colors black and yellow. So of course he did the research and found the fabulous helmet in his colors! Me on the other had...plain Jane black...but it suits me!

Her we are. I know I don't have a helmet on..but I was just posing for the camera!

I am excited to go for rides this summer...any volunteers to watch the kids while we go!!!

59th Annual MDA Ride for a Cure

This year was the 59th Annual MDA Ride for a Cure with Harley Davidson. It is such an amazing event to be part of. Proceeds when to benefit the Utah Chapter of the Muscular Dystrophy Association. Gary's work worked close with Harley Davidson of SL to promote this wonderful event.

This year Gary was able to participate in the Black and Blue Ball, as the Emcee, the night before the big ride. It is a dinner with a silent auction to help raise money for these kids. Gary and I were so moved by the event and we are fortunate enough we were able to donate enough money to send a child to summer camp. I had a friend in school with Muscular Dystrophy, which makes this cause even more near and dear to my heart.

Here is the Arrow team kicking off the ride to Wendover Let the ride begin!!

This is only a small portion of the amount of bikers that participated in the ride. Traffic was blocked off for blocks to let these riders take off. It is so incredible to see the Highway Patrol take off and the bikers follow...I can't even explain how neat it is and the pictures don't do it justice.

Gary has been doing this ride for the past few years, I have been fortunate enough to have gone out the past 3. For years Gary has been jonesing to get a bike and ride out. So this year he was able to take the motorcycle class with his buddy Tom from work to get their licences. They had a blast learning to ride and met some great people along the way.

We rented a bike from the Harley shop to ride out on. Gary and I have ridden around town on a bike, but never such a long distance....should be interesting.

Here is the bike we rented for the Ride...pretty sweet huh?

Gary's buddy Tom on his bike!

Once we got out to Wendover, there was another auction that Team Arrow helped with.

Here is Sue with the MDA spokes girl Carli. She is such an amazing girl, full of life and spunk who is not letting anything get in her way of doing what she wants!

Gary doing announcements and auctioning stuff off!

The Coach, Jon, Sue and G-Man

Tom, Lynda and Gary...these three met in class.

After the Auction it was time to have some fun!

Tom and his wife Penny

Can't forget the highlight of the Night. RATT! Yes 80's hairband Ratt. They were "Back for More" to go "Round and Round" and put on a great show.

And a special thanks to Harley Davidson for putting on such a great event...Teaching Gar how to ride...and renting us a bike!! Maybe we will be back for a bigger purchase than a T-shirt!!!

HAPPY MOMMY'S DAY!!

Shantel decided she wanted to make me breakfast for mothers day. Gary and Shantel got up and made my favorite breakfast (french toast and bacon) and had it ready before I even rolled out of bed. All the kids came in to wake me up and surprise me with hugs and kisses and breakfast made.

Nothing like a picture first thing in the morning!

Kallie made me a cute little envelope and a comments about me!

Shantel made me a coupon book. The 3 coupons...Look close NO POUTING!!!
and the other 2 - vacuuming and making breakfast. I have a feeling I will be using the no pouting one first ;)

Shantel also made me a place mat. It states what she likes to do with me. It says "What I like to do with my mom is snuggle." and the picture is of the 2 of use snuggling on the couch together.

Last but not least Keegan and Gar got me a pair of Rollerblades. We have been talking about getting me some for a while (and since I have NEVER Rollerblades in my life) now was a good time to get them.

I will have to practice in the garage by myself so I don't look like a total goof in public!

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It was a wonderful day spent with the family. I am so lucky to have 3 beautiful and wonderful children. They are all so different and complete me in their own special way.

A trip to the dentist that will be forgotten!

A few month back at our routine trip to the dentist we discovered that Kallie had cavities in the back molars of each bottom tooth (despite all our brushing). We went in for a filling and she wanted NO part of the gas they had put on her. She did well up until the part she started feeling silly, then wouldn't let then go any further. Sigh...back to the dentist we had to go, but the next time would be a sedated visit.
The things you have to go through for a little Versed....2 signed waivers...a complete health history and physical from her pediatrician, and payment upfront (really?) and a 2 hour appt....You would think she was having major surgery. All precautions of course..but the nurse side came out as they were talking to me about the possibility of really really bad side effects..I was looking around the room for a crash cart and resuscitation gear. I left the office in tears thinking that my day was wasted and I had to come back and drug up my little girl.
Well we took her back and she did great with one tooth, but started getting a little fidgety near the end so they told us that we had to come back and do it all again. We let a few months pass...to easy any fear she may have had. All the while telling her we would have to go back soon.

Well today was the big day to do it all over again. Surprisingly she was rather excited to do it again. She got up and dressed in her favorite sweater dress and princess shoes..got her favorite barbies and off we went. No fighting her today to drink the "special" princess drink (motrin and versed) after about 20 minutes the effects were taking effect and my little princess turned into a drunken mess. I have to tell you, she is hilarious all drugged up and if she tries to pull anything as a teenager...HA I know what she is like already!

Here is Kallie playing with toys waiting for the special princess juice to kick in!

So far so good. She has her sunglasses on..kicked back and watching Alvin and the Chipettes.

Here she is with the silly "clown" nose on.

This visit she was exceptionally good. Well, come to find out she was sound asleep through most of the procedure. I was warned that she might be a little combative when she woke up and to do it gently and slowly....well that didn't work. My little girl was so drugged up that she wouldn't wake up. We were rubbing her and moving her and calling her name and there she slept..my sleeping beauty. The dentist turned full oxygen on her and we waited. He tried to sit her up a little and her eyes slowly opened as she tried to pull the mask off. We sat her up and her head fell forward and she was in a dead sleep again. We had to sit in the waiting area for 45 minutes until she could wake up and stay awake long enough that they knew she would be ok. During that 45 minute period she would wake up long enough to hug me then be out cold and snoring...sitting up, might I add. She woke up and barfed (twice) and fell right back to sleep. Finally they took us to the back to check her oxygen to make sure was still doing ok. Her oxygen was 96%, but she would not wake up. I started getting a little nervous thinking off all things that could go wrong..at what point they would rush her to the hospital, but the doc came out and assured me that this was normal and would wear off soon. FINALLY...I got her to wake up and sit up long enough by herself to convince them we would be fine and I would make it home ok. We got in the car and she was asleep again before we got home...my poor baby.

Here she is after getting home and into mom and dads bed. Cartoons on and a comfy pillow. I am happy to say that she has not fallen asleep since we have been home (1.5 hours). And we DON"T have to go back until July for her routine exam.