Happy Birthday, Greg! And Some Updates...

Well Greg is yet another year older now - the big 32. What an oldie! Ha ha. (I love that I'm over 5 years younger than him cuz it's always fun to give him a hard time about his age - and I can always do it too because I will never catch up!) :) He took the day off work and wanted to get out, so we compromised and did a "family activity" by going to the Living Planet Aquarium. Based on how small it was, I think it was really overpriced but despite that, we were really impressed and had a great time. The displays were awesome and the boys loved just about everything! Gavin said his favorite was the octopus that changed colors, and Ty liked Nemo. The boys also loved the hands-on activities. They had sting rays and other small sea creatures you could touch (see pic), which the boys loved of course.

Then we headed back home and went out to eat at Texas Roadhouse. Greg was kind to me and picked a steakhouse! For those of you who don't know, I have been craving steak like you would not believe this pregnancy! I am always looking for sales on it because it's not one of those things you can just send your husband to the store for at 11:00 at night. :) It was really yummy and I appreciate him being sweet enough to pick that on his birthday!

The night ended on a bit of a sad note though. Greg received a call from his mom basically saying she is done fighting her cancer. She just can't handle it anymore, and we absolutely cannot blame her. I haven't done an update on her since her scary experience in August, but she has continued to go through a lot since then. They put her on a much higher dose of chemo once her body could handle it again, but unfortunately, the cancer still continued to grow. The doctors found a large mass in her colon (as well as other tumors) at the beginning of January, which was blocking her intestines. They said the mass was too dangerous to remove so they ended up leaving it and bypassing her colon and intestines by giving her a permanant bag. She has since had struggles with the bag working properly, and has also started retaining water which the doctors fear may be from more growing tumors restricting her veins. As much as we do not want to see Sheila go, it has definitely been heart-breaking to watch her go through as much as she has. She has been so strong through all of it and had so much faith, which has been a wonderful example to all of us, but I know we will all also feel relief in knowing she is out of her pain. Greg and I went to the temple last night to do sealings and as I listened to what was said there, it gave me so much strength knowing just how much she has to look forward to after this life. I am just so grateful for the gospel and the strength it has given her throughout all of this, as well as her whole family. All I can say is that cancer is a nasty bug and I hope one day they find a cure for it. In the meantime, everybody get your colonoscopies! As horrible as they sound, 24 hours of discomfort has got to be so much better than the misery of cancer.

On a lighter note, I thought I would update you all on my pregnancy. Things are still going great, though it feels like time is dragging! In all actuality, I know the past 5 1/2 months have gone really quickly, but June still just seems like an eternity away! Hopefully it comes quickly. :) We had our big ultrasound with the doctor today and got to get a much better view of the baby which was so fun! She definitely has our boys' noses - too cute! Everything looks strong and healthy so I can't complain. (And sorry I couldn't scan the pictures - my scanner on my printer isn't working, so I had to take pictures of the pictures. Ha ha! The one is a profile pic and the other is her body - obviously she really likes her knee because she had to have it up by her head the whole time!)

As for the rest of the family (a.k.a. the wild boys!), they are doing great. Gavin is one smart little kiddo and is so excited to Kindergarten. He continues to amaze me everyday with how smart he is. He adds in his head all the time, without hardly even thinking. We will be walking through a store and he will say things like, "Mom, 3 and 2 make 5, huh? 5 and 2 make 7, huh?" He even looked at a pack of 8 markers the other day and said, "So if there are 8 markers in here, Mom, then I can have 4 and Ty can have 4." It's just amazing that he can do it without even thinking - I think we have a little mathematician on our hands! As for Ty, he is extremely smart too - he even wrote his name the other day! I was shocked - I guess he's picked it up from seeing Gavin write it down so much. He is constantly wanting to imitate his brother, which causes a lot of fights in our house, but I'm glad he admires Gavin and wants to be like him.

Well, I think that's all for now. Until next time! -Ash

The First of Many Changes to Come...

Even though the baby isn't due for 4 more months, we thought it was time to start making some of the changes for her arrival so I could adapt to it all SLOWLY over time. :) (For those of you who don't know me well, I do NOT do well with change!) So the first thing we decided to do was get the boys moved into one room - probably the most daunting task out of everything we have to do before June! I was really struggling with the idea and having major parent guilt about them sharing a room, probably because I always had my own room growing up. Plus, I was also really bummed about selling Gavin's bed because I absolutely loved it, but knew we needed the money from it for the bunk beds. So basically, I was preparing myself for a really rough time... :)

Well, back at the beginning of January, we started looking around to see if it was more economical for us to buy bunk beds, or for Greg to make them. In the end, I only found one set I liked and it was triple what we wanted to spend, plus it was a full on bottom and I wanted a twin because of space. So that answered it - Greg was going to make them! I was nervous, but excited that they would look exactly how I wanted them to. He worked on them on his days off and nights for a couple of weeks, then did the paint job over a few days. In the meantime, Gavin's bed sold quickly to a girl I knew from high school - a relief since I loved that bed, and am glad it's going to be well taken care of again - but it also put Gavin without a bed for about a week. He was absolutely devastated when we took down his bed. It seriously broke my heart and I felt so bad, but we had no other choice! I think it helped me though that I had to be strong for him, cuz I didn't shed one tear. :) Fortunately, once he saw that the bunk beds were almost done, he cheered right up and was okay sleeping on the floor for a few nights.

Finally, Greg finished up the beds last night and we were able to put them into place! So here are some before and after pictures:

BEFORE:

(While I loved this bed, it hit me once it was gone just how much space it took up! Seriously, Gavin could hardly even play in there because there was no room...)

AFTER:

Wow, there's actually a floor! (If you can see that line in the carpet, that is where Gavin's old bed came to which shows just how cramped it was with his old bed.) I absolutely LOVE how everything turned out - the beds came out even better than I thought they would! And the boys absolutely love them too. I was afraid that they would both be scared to sleep on the top bunk, but so far, all they've done is fight over who gets to sleep up there! So I would dare say the whole thing has been a success - guess I shouldn't have been worried at all! :) -Ash