Damien's first day of preschool

So today was Damien's first day of preschool and he just couldn't wait! It started a month or so 714ago when I bought him some school clothes, he has had a bunch of outfits all laid out ready to go ever since! He has been counting down the days for quite some time and has had the hardest time because Bailee started 2ND grade a few weeks ago and didn't understand why he couldn't go when Bailee did. We went and saw his teacher and his classroom yesterday at the open house and that got him even more excited! Damien usually has the hardest time waking up but he was up bright and early this morning before anyone else and he was ready to go! He wasn't scared or nervous just so excited! Bailee on the other hand was having a hard time with it! he is my little worry wort who worries about everything there is to worry about! He was nervous for Damien and was afraid that someone would be mean to him or that he would miss me! It was kind of funny actually because Damien was not scared AT ALL and even when I dropped him off he dropped his backpack and ran to his seat and didn't say goodbye or anything! I just cant believe how big he is getting and not needing his mommy so much anymore! well he is off to school right now so I cant say how his day went but I'm sure it went great and he made lots of friends!

24th of July

for the 24th of July this year we decided that we would go to the zoo. we haven't been in a couple years and now that the babies are a little older we thought it would be a perfect time to go. It was pretty hot but not too bad actually. and there weren't alot of people there, at least not as many as I thought there would be. Calan was so excited the whole time and he was just screaming over everything. it was a happy scream and was so funny to see his get so excited! his favorites were the monkeys and bears but really he loved everything. all the kids had so much fun and i think we will go again soon. here are some pictures of the fun time at the zoo...

After the zoo we went over to Randys moms house and had a bbq and then lit off fireworks. the kids took turns lighting the fireworks off which i thought I would never let them do but with some help they were ok. I am sad that summer is almost over and I am going to try and enjoy what is left!!

Camping and Accident prone child

last weekend we went camping with some family and friends and OF COURSE i forgot my camera! so i didnt get to take any pictures but it was alissa and calans first time camping and i have to say they LOVED it!! they were so in their element and were so happy the whole time! it did rain on us but we didnt let that get us down! we went fishing at strawberry and alissa loved holding the worms! thats my girl! while we were there Alissa was sitting on damiens lap in his camping chair and they tipped over. Alissas head hit damiens eye and he started screaming. I picked him up off the ground and noticed right away that his eye was all swollen. I dont know what it is about him but he is my accident prone child! it seems like everywhere we go or whatever we do he gets hurt in some way. I took a picture of his eye 3 days after the fact and this is what it looked like...

dance classes

this past month or so I have been taking Oaklee and Alissa to dance class. they both really seem to like although alissa does get tired about the last 15 minutes or so but she is always begging to go back to dance class! I just had to put some pictures up of them in one of their cute outfits! I am so happy to have my little princess and she brightens up my day! she is such a sweet little sister and calans best bud! Don't know what I would do without my little lissy!

Damiens disaster

this is his left and NORMAL side

this is his right side and its still pretty swollen under and next to his ear lobe

I thought I would just give everyone an update on Damien and for those of you who don't know I thought I would tell you what happened. Well on mon morning he woke up and came walking down stairs and i looked at him and almost screamed! the whole right side of his face was swollen. I asked him what happened and he didn't know what I was talking about and I felt his head thinking maybe he was sick well he wasn't warm at all! then I started asking him questions like do his ears hurt or did he fall and I, for the life of me, could not figure out why he had a lump on his cheek and why it was all swollen! I started calling my mom and my mother in law and asking if they knew what could be wrong and they both threw out ideas like spider bites and allergic reaction but nothing seemed to fit. so I thought ok maybe I am just overreacting and I should just give it some time and it would clear up. Well not the case! by mon night he was starting to be in pain and by 10 that night i thought we should take him the the er but he laid down for a minute and fell asleep. me and randy were really worried cause he wasn't acting like himself and before he fell asleep he asked to go to the doctor and if you know damien you know that he HATES the doctors! so randy set an alarm to wake up every couple of hours and just go check on him. we actually didn't end up needing that alarm because he woke up every hour or more just crying in pain. he wouldn't let me touch him or move him so i knew it was bad and the swelling was getting worse as the night went on so we put him on the floor in our room so we could keep an even better eye on him. about 4 in the morning he woke up just screaming by this point and when i got up to console him i felt his face and it was a golf ball size lump and his face was swollen clear up to his eye! I thought that's it I can't take it anymore i was in tears by this point because I felt so bad seeing him in pain so I called my mom over to sit with my other kids while me and randy ran him to the hospital. well the doctor didn't have to do much assessing before he knew what it was. its something called acute parotid gland swelling or parotitis. Its when one of your 2 saliva glands get blocked and infected and its stops the flow of saliva. there are many ways it can be caused and they don't know which caused his but they think it might have been a stone, like when you get a kidney stone, that got stuck in the canal that connects the 2 glands and exerts saliva into the mouth. the doctor said it is very uncommon and he himself hasn't seen it for 4 or 5 years!!! so they have him on an adult dose antibiotic that looks like a freaking horse pill that he is suppose to swallow!!! i just have to crush it up and he has to choke it down. then we also have to give him sour things like lemons and such to try to get that saliva flowing and get it unclogged. lets cross our fingers and hope that it gets better cause if it doesn't then we have to go see and ent doctor where they would have to biopsy it! but I know it wont get to that point... so far the swelling hasn't gone down much but it hasn't gotten worse and he wasn't up all night screaming. I am just glad it wasn't something more serious and that it is treatable....my poor buddy! this was our second trip in a week. Bailee had to go last wed because he bent his thumb all the way back while jumping on the tramp and ended up tearing the ligaments in his thumb and cant move his thumb and has to wear a splint and will probably require physical therapy. he is just happy it didnt happen during baseball season!!! lets hope this is the last er trip...EVER!!! I will try to put up pictures later with both their injuries...

sorry these pitcures arent very good of Bailee's hand but you get the idea. his injury was a week ago

my big boy!!!

I just had to put some pictures up of Bailee and his team after a game. His team is all 7 year olds and he is the biggest by far! he is #1 in the very back of the line. he is almost a foot taller than anyone his age! its crazy to me! hes a giant but in a good way! so here are those pictures...

His baseball season in almost over and that makes me sad! I have enjoyed watching him and he has sure learned a lot and had so much fun doing it! like I said his whole team is 7 year olds and the other 14 teams in the league are made up of all 8 and 9 year old with only a couple 7 year olds on each team. so we definitely had an unfair advantage but ended up taking 10Th place all season out of 15 which isn't bad considering they were all 7! We are in the tournament right now which is double elimination and have already lost our first game on Tue. but it was sooo close! they only lost by 1! and I got a picture of Bailee catching a foul ball and getting an out! hes such a stud! so his next tournament game is tonight and if they loose this they are out of it for the season, if they win they have a chance of getting a trophy in the consolation bracket! so we will see how that goes! I get so nervous watching him, like I used to get nervous when I played!! Damien is really good also and has so much potential to go far with baseball! and he loves it I think more than Bailee! he is half way through his T-ball season and I will be sad when that is over also, I don't know what I will do with myself, I guess just watch my little brother play who plays for pg high. I love my boys so much and are so proud of them and can't wait to see what they do with their talents! They eat sleep and breath baseball and do it all on their own! I haven't had to push them into anything but am really happy that they love it as much as I do!

Moving, baseball and potty training!!

My kids can't get enough of the sunshine!

This is my niece Oaklee and her little sister Ellery!

To start off, last week I started watching my brothers 2 little girls 4 days a week. Oaklee is 5 and Ellery is about 3 months old. My sister in law had to go back to work from maternity leave and so I have taken the responsibility to watch them while they work and absolutely love it! I love spending the time with my beautiful nieces while also helping out my brother! the kids have had fun swimming and playing together and I think its important for my kids to play with their cousins. Bailee is finally out of school for the summer and I couldn't be happier! I really need the break and so does he! He has been playing baseball this year in a machine pitch league and he loves it! it is so fun to go watch him play and to see the big smile on his face. He is so naturally talented its not even funny! I think next year though i am going to put him in an accelerated traveling league. he only has a few weeks of games left and I'm sure he will miss it when its over. I know I will! At least there is fall soccer soon to come for him! Damien's first t-ball game is tomorrow and he couldn't be more excited! he has been on a count down to it ever since i signed him up for it 2 months ago! I can't wait to see him play and grow in this sport as well! Another thing keeping me busy is moving. We are moving to orem/lindon area tomorrow and I am not even all packed and ready! I am sad to leave this neighborhood but also happy because it is closer to my mom and brother. In other news is My 2 year old daughter Alissa just decided one day to potty train herself! A few weeks ago she came up to me and said she had to go potty and I took her to the bathroom and she went. Ever since then she has only had a couple accidents and refuses to wear diapers, even at night! its just crazy to me because my mom always told me that girls are easier to potty train and I didn't believe her until this happened! its totally true!!! I am so proud of my little princess! 3 down and 1 to go! I can't wait until my last one is out of diapers!!! So between babysitting, baseball, moving and potty training you can say I am pretty busy! and it will all be over just in time for randy to go out of town again for a couple weeks. I just can't wait until I am all moved and settled and can breath easy!

One last thing, I am SO excited for my sister in law chelsi to have her baby boy! she is due any day and cant wait to meet him! so if you can read this cruise come out, we're ready for ya!