A Vacation within a Vacation...

So am I the last person to find out about Great Wolf Lodge, or what? How come nobody told me? What a fun place to stay, if you like water parks, that is. This hotel is a total vacation spot in one. It has two water parks, one inside and one outside; a magical quest that takes you all around the hotel; arcades, computer games and more, such as Rock Band and Guitar Hero; Girls Pedicure/Manicure shop; Massages and facials etc. What a fun place to take a vacation with the whole family. I highly recommend it. My parents found this place when we were looking for a place to stay in Dallas for David Rohm's wedding, a good family friend. Unfortunately, it was a quick trip and I did not have the girls with me. They would have had so much fun. Check it out if you want a fun trip or need a great family reunion idea.

A Wonderful Trip

This past week I was able to visit Utah for our friend, Steve's wedding. Steve has been like a brother to Chris and I and we couldn't be happier for him and Cynthia on their big day.


Thanks to my WONDERFUL husband and family, I was able to go on this trip all by myself. That's right, no girls for the whole week! At first it was great to have all that time to myself again, but by midweek I was missing them like crazy and buying every cute girl item in sight (hair curlers, glasses, hair clips etc.).




So, Grandma Brown has been in the hospital after she suffered from 3 strokes. She has very limited movement on her left side and is currently in a wheelchair. Corby and I went to pick her up from the hospital and transferring Grandma in the car was honestly, a lot of work. So, a few days later Corby and I go to see Grandma Brown during her therapy sessions and she just pops up in and out of her wheelchair like it was no big deal. Corby and I look at each other in shock and Grandma Brown says, "Yeah, I've been milking it." We just laughed! We're on to you Grandma Brown! We are so proud of the progress you have made so far. You are always in our prayers. We love you! Here is an photo of Grandma reading to Kennedi a few years ago.


My favorite part of the trip was the moment I got to share with my best friend, Charity. We have shared many experiences together and my two pregnancies were a couple of the special memories that topped the charts. We have always planned with each other how we were going to tell our husbands we were pregnant. Well, it is finally her turn!!! We took the test in my brother-in-laws bedroom where I was staying. As we were about to read the test, my brother-in-law, Clayton knocked on the door to get a few blankets. Charity and I scrambled around to slyly hide the pregnancy tests from him. That's all I would need is having that rumor that I am pregnant again. In the chaos of hiding everything, I was able to sneak a peak at the positive test. I kept it under wraps until she was able to see it first and then we just screamed and jumped on each other. I feel so blessed to be able to share that moment with my best friend, as she has shared with me in the past. We just said I was in the right place at the right time. This picture just captures the excitement of the moment.

BTW-we were not that successful in hiding what we were doing because I guess when Clayton came out of the room he said to his mom, "they're acting really weird and there are a bunch of pregnancy tests all over the place." So much for trying to be sneaky. We love you, Clayton!

Dah, Dad

Kennedi was sitting at the kitchen table eating her brownie. Chris came in and asked her a few times, "Hey, Kennedi. Is that brownie good?" He was getting frustrated because she wouldn't answer him. Everytime she just looked up at him like this and kept slowly chewing her brownie with a sassy look on her face.



When she was done with that bite she says, "Dad. When my mouth is full, I don't talk." Guess she told him. Dah dad. Manners, don't ya know???

A Simple Mind...

The other day I was working on my computer when all of the sudden I was taken back by what Kennedi said to me... "Suck it." I was shocked until I realized she was holding up her baby bottle for me to drink it like a baby. Oh, I wish I still had the simple mind of a three year old.

Happy 7th Anniversary, Babe!

No 7 year itch here. We are still going strong and as happy as ever. I was attending a wedding this past weekend in Dallas, so Chris and I are going to celebrate our anniversary a little later. Its crazy how fast time goes by. I can remember not sleeping the night before the wedding because I was so excited. Then we had some miscommunication about what time he was to arrive at the temple. I sat there for an hour thinking I was being stood up on my wedding day. Turns out, I forgot to tell him the new time we were meeting so we could take pictures before hand. After that, things were right on schedule and as planned - aside from someone locking our keys in our car after decorating it, which caused the alarm to go off as we were trying to leave for our honeymoon.



Good times and great memories! Thanks for the beautiful memories we have shared together. I know we will have a lifetime of more memories to enjoy together. I love you, babe!

And here is my favorite part of being married:
"Snuggling Pigs"

Caught in the act...

Several times Christopher and I have had to tell the girls not to stand on the “decoration table.” Well this time they were caught in the act. Both girls were jumping off of the table onto the couch. When I told them to stop, Kennedi said, “But Mom…we’re not standing on it, Mom.”
When they saw they were in trouble, first they tried to hide behind their hands and close their eyes. When they realized that wasn’t working, they pretended to be asleep. What a bunch of goons.

It's Birthday Time Again...

Happy 2nd Birthday, Kamrynn! We decided to do a combine birthday party for the girls and take them to Chuck E. Cheese. They had a blast, other than Kami was not too sure of Chuck himself. Thanks for the gifts everyone!



This is one of my favorite pictures of us.

It's a Small World After All

As a few of you know I have started back to work with a nursing agency. This is my first time working in Texas and oh man is it different than Utah as for the organizational things. I truly appreciate my education and background while I worked at an IHC Hospital in Utah. They were organized and we knew our protocols. Although I had a good work experience for my first shift, I did not like the laid back nursing policies. For instance, in Utah, when I recovered a post surgical patient, I knew that I would be checking on the patient VERY often (every 15 minutes for the first hours, then every 30 minutes x 2, then every hour x 4, then every 4 x 24). So when I took a post surgical patient the other day I asked the charge nurse what their protocol was for rounding and assessing my new post surgical patient and she said, "Oh, whenever. Once a shift is good." WHAT!!! Is she honestly telling me that she would only assess her post surgical patient once a shift-Not me!!! So I figured it would be better to go "overboard" how we did it in Utah vs. adopting this nurse’s philosophy. Better safe than sorry is my philosophy.

One thing I am grateful for is how nice the nurses were to me. It kind of felt like going to nursing school clinicals again-you never knew if you were going to orient with a "nice nurse" or one that would make your day hell.

The paperwork was quite different from what I was used to. Frankly, IHC is much more organized with charting and what is required of the nurses. I guess it will just take a little getting used to the way they do it here. Aside from all the confusion, I absolutely LOVED being back to work and seeing patients again.

Another interesting fact about my first shift back was that I know I was blessed by my Heavenly Father. I know this because my first two patients were LDS and as nice as can be. How random is that? The first lady I had met before at a girls LDS dinner and the second LDS patient has an interesting story. She asked me where I moved from and I told her Utah. As we were talking she asked if I was LDS. I, of course said, yes and she said she could tell by my presence when I came into her room, (What a nice complement) and she was LDS, too. To make a long story short we played the "do you know game." She mentioned that she attended BYU around 2001 and I mentioned to her that I just missed her at BYU because I attended from 1998-2000 and cheered there. When she heard that, she asked if I knew, Katie Bills. For those of you who don't know, I was good friends and cheered with Katie at BYU. She passed away from a skiing accident in 1999. My face just lit up and I knew Katie must have had something to do with my patient assignment today. My patient actually grew up with Katie and knew her from church. Talk about a small world. Here is a picture of our squad. Katie is in the bottom row in the center, right below me.

Happy Birthday Grams

I have the best Grams in the whole world. No one shares a bond like my Grams and I. I love her so much and she has always been there for me. From when I was really little until now, she has always held a special place in my heart. I love you, Grams! XOXO

What Is a Grandma?

"A grandma is warm hugs and sweet memories. She remembers all of your accomplishments and forgets all of your mistakes. She is someone you can tell your secrets and worries to, and she hopes and prays that all your dreams come true. She always loves you, no matter what. She can see past temper tantrums and bad moods, and makes it clear that they don't affect how precious you are to her. She is an encouraging word and a tender touch. She is full of proud smiles. She is the one person in the world who loves you with all her heart, who remembers the child you were and cherishes the person you've become." ~Barbara Cage~









xoxoxo
HAPPY BIRTHDAY, GRAMS!

Happy 3rd Birthday, Kennedi

July is a busy month in our family having both Kennedi and Kamrynn's birthdays. Since my family is out of town, we decided to do a combine birthday party for both the girls later this month and just have a small family party today. For Kennedi's birthday dinner she chose to make her favorite-PIZZA! Both girls helped and had tons of fun in the process. My dad also made a DVD of after she was born at the hospital and it is her favorite thing to watch herself as a baby. She watched it at least 20 times. Later, she wanted to do a photo shoot in her red hat, we went swimming, opened presents, and ate some birthday cake.















Happy 3rd Birthday, Kennedi.

4th of July Weekend

We traveled to North Padre Island, in Corpus Christi for the 4th of July weekend to have our family pictures taken by, Elizabeth. The scenery was beautiful and we are so excited to see the pictures. I will post them as soon as we get them.
After a very early morning of picture taking, we had time to play at the beach with the kids. Kennedi loved playing in the water and sand, but Kamrynn was not too sure about getting her hands and feet dirty (which surprises me with her). She has always been my messy kid. Dirty and all, they still managed to have a great time at the beach.












After we got home from visiting the beach, we were able to go see the Ringling Brothers and Barnum & Bailey Circus! The kids loved it. Christopher said that the only thing he remembers about going to the circus when he was little was that it "was stupid" because he never got to have cotton candy; so as a joke that was the first thing my dad bought for him when we sat down.

My brother Kris and I (the clowns that we are) decided to go during intermission to have our faces painted and come back like nothing happened just to see the reactions on the kid’s faces. The younger brothers got a good laugh, but Kennedi was somewhat taken back by the whole thing and wanted me to "wash it off, mom." She also said that I was not supposed to color on my face. She doesn't miss a thing!