Mt. Spokane

The day of snowboarding! "Ahhh!" "Why am I even compelled to do this?" "What was I thinking" "OK. Just have fun!" "Have a good attitude".... These were some of the thoughts racing through my mind as we got closer and closer to the Lodge. I'm not exactly in the best shape I have ever been in and I have NEVER done this before, so to say I was a little apprehensive would be an understatement. I mostly did it for Justin because he really wanted to teach me and he was so excited about it. It was REALLY, REALLY HARD! The worst part was getting off the lift. The first time off was a complete disaster...which didn't inspire much confidence when I saw that somehow I was going to have to get back down the hill. The second time off the lift was slightly better, but I twisted my ankle pretty good and was a bit scared that I was going to injure myself in a bad way. I only went down the bunny hill a total of two times. The first time down I was a little bit grumpy. It was frustrating. I have to say that I married one of the most patient men on earth. Which is good, because I am not patient at all. He wanted to stay with me every step of the way. At the end of the day, I said I would even try it again, but...I'm not in too much of a hurry.



Miss Sarah...you go girl! Nice form!



When we were getting our gear on I realized I left my really, really warm coat at home! (hero music) Justin to the rescue! My sweet hubby let me wear his waterproof coat. He's the best!



I admit, I looked pretty ridiculous.



This was the position I spent most of the time in. The sorest parts of my body were my arms/biceps and wrists.



Justin and Corey coming down the hill.



Sarah taking a little snoozer while we waited for the guys.



Corey and Sarah....aw, how cute!

sweet girls

These are some other dresses that we got a really good deal on



Sophie



It sure was a challenge to get these four girls to look in the same place and smile all at the same time. They are so cute!

spokane trip

Last month we spent a week in Spokane with our families. We stayed at Justin's parents' house first and two of his brother's and their kids stayed as well. It was fun to have everyone together. We found some awesome deals at Target and got the girls some matching dresses. They LOVED being "twins".









This is Sophie, Katelyn and Audrey

goofy girl

Katelyn wanted ALL of the hair bows in her hair one day

Crazy princess outfit

Katelyn finally graduated from nursery to Sunbeams at church.
They had a Saturday activity with games, songs and a breakfast
to get to meet their new teachers. She was a bit shy at first,
but now she loves her teachers and as far as I know, she
hasn't had any problems with being in Primary.

This is her with her class.

???????????????

It looks like I do not have an ulcer. They only findings were: Gastritis (inflammation of the stomach lining-cause unknown), and a Hiatal Hernia (according to the doctor, these are very common and not typically a cause for concern or require treatment). So, why am I still having these horrible attacks. Big fat question mark! He doesn't know. This is exactly what I was afraid of. I don't remember anything much of what we were told after the procedure, but Justin said the doctor was saying that maybe it is "phantom pain" from having the gall bladder out. Doesn't help me a whole lot. He did take a piece of my stomach lining for a biopsy, so maybe that will tell us something. I'm trying to be patient, but it's not really my forte. I had an attack on the way home from the blasted appointment. I think I may do some research online and see if I can find any information on this so-called "phantom pain" in relation to having your gall bladder out. For now, it is another case of the unsolved mysteries!

8 hours

until I go in for an upper G.I. scope. Last week I had another horrible stomach attack, episode, whatever you want to call it. It hurts so bad, I almost wonder if I can bear it any longer while it is happening. This was the 3rd time it has happened since having my gall bladder out in October. I am tired of it. I drove myself back down to the ER. Something has to be wrong! They did another ultrasound and took some blood, all of which came back "normal". Irritating. My regular doctor doesn't think that what is happening has anything to do with the gall bladder situation, but is something different altogether. He wonders if it is an ulcer. So tomorrow I will hopefully find something out. Things have been taken to a new level since Wednesday's attack. After I eat, I have pain, if I go too long without eating, I have pain. Frequent, mild nausea, pressure in the chest, heartburn, bloating...the list goes on. I know, poor me, right? Please let there be an answer tomorrow.

Running

I have been telling myself that I want to start running again (after I had the baby). I decided to look for some kind of race to run that would motivate me. I found a St Patty's Day 5K down in Kennewick and asked if anyone wanted to run with me. Two gals from church said they would be up for it. Now I have to commit. So, today I ran for the first time...in a very long time. I took it easy and knew I wouldn't get too far. When I felt like I wanted to stop and rest I looked ahead for a point to push myself towards and made it each time. I used to run a lot when I was single. I was never a great runner, but I did it because I felt like it challenged me and because it gave me a good workout. I have noticed my knees hurt me a lot more than they used to and that bugs me. But I am looking forward to the challenge again. It was a good start today and I am glad that I could even run just a little bit only two days after REALLY challenging my body by going snowboarding. I'll post about that later.

One of our Christmas presents this year was this cute
little popcorn popper. We love popcorn!
We fired it up the other night and the best part was
watching Katelyn's excitement over it. I don't think
it will ever get old to watch life through the eyes of
your children.

Katelyn's doctor said it was OK to introduce rice cereal
to her diet. I had been wondering about this because
Alaina seems to have quite an appetite. So, I mixed
some up according to the directions I was given and gave
some to her. She was not real excited about this. She gagged
a couple of times and wasn't too sure about the texture.

She didn't get more than a spoonful probably and I
am not in too much of a hurry for her to like it.
I just can't believe how fast she is growing!

Gift exchange

Every year my family gets together for a gift exchange.
Since there are so many of us, all the adults draw names
for one another. We also have a white elephant
gift exchange. Usually everyone tries to be too nice.
This year I wanted to see some stealing, but to be
honest, these were some of the worst gifts we've had yet!
HAHAHAHAHAHAHA!

I got a pack of funky African looking napkin holders

My niece Alura's boyfriend, Brent- oh wow! a pair
of sunflower oven mits, yay!

Tammy got a magnetic tray...ya know, for the garage

Aaron's turn

Another box?

...

And another...

still going...

Cool! A Rubik's cube!

One of my nephews-Mason

My brother Jared

My sister Britany

The ol' jock strap got reinstated again this year. Nice.
The best part is when my step brother Allen thought
he should steal it. He says: "I got an idea for that!"
(yes, he is actually 'special')

The best part of all??? Now we have an ENTIRE
collection of Barney videos! My sister in law won
these, but they don't have a VCR player so I said
I would take them. There was a day I swore my children
would never watch Barney, but such is life I suppose.

Weekend Updates

Alaina on her 4 month birthday rolled from her back
all the way onto her tummy. Good job Alaina!

She had her 4 month check up today.
Stats:
25" long (80%)
13 pounds (50%) Told ya she's not big!
43cm head (80%)

We spent the weekend in Spokane doing a late Christmas
with both of our parents and families.
My mom and Dale really, really liked the quilt and
that made me really happy.

Katelyn and Madeline

We spent a quiet New Year's Eve at my mom's

visiting with Crystyne, Jeff, Mason, Cooper and Madeline.

Alaina and Madeline are exactly 3 weeks apart.
Alaina is older. I guess it's natural for people to compare
babies. Everyone kept saying how "big" Alaina is, but
she is tall, that's all. Madeline is very tiny. I have to
admit, it annoys me that they are always going to be compared
so much. It's probably like comparing a giraffe with a cat.
It's no wonder we tend to compare ourselves with others...
it starts at day ONE! Why do we do that?

We put the two next to each other to "play" and
Alaina started rolling over and kept putting her feet
in Madeline's face.

It was pretty fun to see them reacting to each other

Hmmm, I think I'll give these toes a taste