The 4th of July (a little late)

Chris & I have been swamped with work around the house (pictures on that soon), so blogging has been on a back burner. I finally downloaded the pictures from our 4th of July over at Chris's parents' ranch. We went over on Thursday and came back on Sunday. It was a ton of fun. The ranch is in Ione, OR (what you have never heard of Ione, most people haven't). Think a town small enough that if you blink while driving by you will miss it. Which means we were in the middle of the country and we get to see the wildlife. This was outside the back door while we were all inside playing a card game.Ione has a true 4th of July celebration. It is an all day event. They have a dunk tank, book sale, fish for prizes for the kids, bike raffle, parade, pie sale, music, and fireworks . We always go down and go through the book sale and get good supply of books. Then it was off to the fish for prizes for the kids (Cam got a Transformer & Kasey got a drum). Then we had to go to the pie sale. They have the best homemade pies for sale by the slice. They were delicious. Cam saw a crowd of kids and dragged Chris over to it and it turned out they were having a frog jumping contest for the kids. One at a time a kid would get a frog out of a cooler and then make it jump three times (the farthest distance won). Cam wanted to do it even after I made it clear he would have to pick up the frog (he has never had the chance to pick up a frog before). He waited 30 minutes for his turn watching all the other kids go. It was so fun to watch. He got right in there and picked the frog up. He had a great time.

We went home for lunch then came back for the parade. Cameron got way more than his fair share of candy.

Kasey took off and Grandpa went after him and Grandpa's shadow (AKA: Cameron) followed him.By the time the parade was over Kasey was ready for a nap so we went back to the ranch to play games and let the boys rest. As it started to get dark we drove the trucks up the hill to get a look at the fireworks (in the picture w/ Kasey & me, the field in the background is where they set off the fireworks). Cameron loved them, Kasey hates loud noises so we were a little worried. He whimpered a couple of times, but settled down after a few minutes. On the last fire work of the night he finally uttered an "oh wow." These are his first real words (not the first time he said them, though). He has been saying them for about 5 weeks now. Anything he thinks is cool is "Oh wow."

It was a fun weekend with Cameron getting to go on lots of tractor and four wheeler rides. Cam's Uncle Toby bought him a tractor book which is now a nightly read before bedtime.

My Angel

This is a tough time of year. I always end up in a bad mood and very irritable with everyone. It starts around graduation time and sneaks up on me. When I start seeing the Firework stands go up, it always hits me as to what my issue is. Five years ago, I was in the hospital and had been for two weeks. I was 23 weeks and 5 days pregnant and I was in labor.

Two weeks before, Chris & I went to the doctors office for an ultrasound. We were so excited to get to see the baby. We had decided that we didn't want to know the sex so we could be surprised in the delivery room. The ultrasound was going great then the technician stopped and said she needed to check something. She was gone for 20 minutes. Then she came back and said "you need to go into an exam room the doctor wants to examine you." At this point I was starting to get scared. Chris was doing his best to keep me calm. It turned out that I needed to go to the hospital. I was starting to panic and I couldn't get a hold of my Mom (when things go wrong who doesn't want there mom? )

I was in the hospital for the next two weeks changing medications, having anxiety attacks, being on strict bed rest and laying at an angle where my head was lower than my feet. Over those long two weeks, we had our ups and moments of hope then we had our downs and moments of despair. We had family who visited us and made us laugh when we needed it. We had family to hold our hands and cry when we needed to let it all out.

When the moment came that we knew I was going to deliver our baby, every person in our families who really mattered and lived in Oregon and Washington dropped everything to be there. Our little baby waited until every last person showed up and was in the waiting room. Our baby changed the way she was laying and after only a few minutes our little angel had arrived. Laura Kay was born at 1:39pm on June 30th, weighing 1lb 4.9oz. She let out a little cry. She was so small and I had never been so filled with love and pride in my life. She had her Dad's nose. The nurses and doctors went above and beyond the call of duty. They took pictures (with there own camera). We took some pictures too. Chris got to help clean Laura up and dress her. After a few minutes we let our families come in. We let everyone hold her and meet her. Nobody cried or acted sad. Everyone said how beautiful and precious she was. Our families stayed for a little while, then they let us be alone with Laura and be a family for the little time that we could. One hour and 49 minutes after Laura was born she passed away and Chris and I both learned what it meant to have your heart broken. She passed away while Chris was holding her and with the exception of when the doctors examined her she was held by Chris, I or our families the entire time. She was shown more love in her short life than some people could only hope for in theirs.

During those few minutes that we were lucky enough to have her, we understood what it meant to be a parent and how very special kids are. Whenever we start to get down about life, we think of Laura and we realize that we are so blessed and we are so loved by our families. We now try to make every moment with our kids last. We know how special the time we get to spend with them is. It has been five years and I wish I could say the pain of losing her has gone away, but I can't. There are days that it hurts like it was yesterday and there are days where I am okay with it. At this time of year, as her birthday approaches, I am always reminded of her and I wonder what she would be like. This year she would be 5 and getting ready for Kindergarten. For some reason that has made this year especially hard. Below are some pictures that we took of Laura, her hospital certificate and an ultrasound picture of her.

Laura, we love you and miss you everyday. Happy Birthday our precious angel!

Great Wolf and Wii Fit

A few weekends ago we went up to the new Great Wolf Lodge in Washington that has the water park and we had a really good time. They had enough stuff for both adults and little kids to do. We went with Chris's brother, his girlfriend, her brother and wife and their two little girls. It was a lot of fun and we definitely plan on going back. All I can say about the Howlin Tornado is you have to go on it when it is dark! We went on it during the day and then went back again after dark. It was really really fun during the day, but at night you go around the first bend and the rest of the ride is pitch black! It was so crazy! The boys had a great time. Every time Cameron sees the commercial for Great Wolf he points at the screen and says "that is where we went! Right Mom?" This is always followed up 20 minutes later with "Mom, tomorrow, today next week I think we should go back to the water park" (he is working on trying to figure out the past, present future words). Then randomly he comes up to me to tell me all about the bucket that pores water all over your head or about how fast the red and yellow slides were. We had a really great time. Here are a few pictures of our trip, this last one is Cameron at the end of the day.A couple of weeks ago I also got lucky and found a Wii fit. I have played it a few times (then I got sick and it hasn't been touched since I am still recovering). Here are some pictures of our family using it. It is pretty fun. Kasey doing the balance test.Cameron doing pilates.And a picture of Kasey and Chris watching me do it (you didn't think I was going to put a picture of me playing it did you? You would have to be crazy to post a picture of yourself playing Wii fit)

Cakes, Cakes, Cakes!

So as most of you know I have been dabbling with cake decorating this year and have found I really enjoy it. It is relaxing and allows me to be creative (I use this word very loosely). Well, I have been looking for ways to work on my skills. So I was thinking that I could help other people with their cakes. So if you have any type of cake that needs to be made, please give me a call and I would be happy to either help you decorate the cake or if you want to pay for supplies I can decorate a cake for you. I am just looking to get some practice. So please let me know if you want a cake done.