A tale of two blogs... The Good!

The week of Halloween 2008 had a very decisive two part tangle of emotions that are being shortly split into two blogs. So here we go with the good!

I think I look great in Mom's jacket. That's all I'm saying. I look good. Real good. That's it. Nothing else to say. Except that I look good. So good.

I got to spend a weekend with my family in Utah and had the best weekend ever! It started off with a journey following the rough riders Dad & Grandpa. My forearm is still sore from pulling the throttle back trying to keep up. Thanks for the great time! Good picture though, huh? I look good in Mom's jacket, no?

Why'd that guy on the right have to ruin this photo? It's like a photo of a rosebed with a cockroach on one of the flowers. Adrie is so CUTE! Alaina (also cute) is such a good mom and I'm glad we got to see each other.

Here's the gang, centered around Mom and Dad's "yellow" flavored shake. That's right... yellow flavored.

I was proud of Ryan when he slipped a bite of peppermint milkshake to Trenton! Way to go!

Trenton is my favorite youngest nephew, by far. He looks like he's trying to figure a way out of that towel in this picture. Can you see it? He is such a good baby. Ryan and Erica are awesome parents and made me proud.

Again with the cockroach? Rahcel has such a pretty smile! Trent-dog is perfect!

You three make a great family! Trenton's lucky to have you guys as parents. You're lucky to have Trenton as a son! A match made in heaven!Thanks to everyone for making my weekend so great!

And now.... scroll down for the flip side of good emotions.

A tale of two blogs (cont'd)... and The Bad

And now for the bad....

A little unexpected renovations to our house. We had a toilet water line (into the reservoir tank) come loose and spray water into our house all night. We woke up to an unfolding nightmare, where the clean-up company found a ton of black mold growing in the wall behind our kitchen sink. The water damage from the toilet caused damage to most of the walls and flooring to the downstairs part of our house. The mold caused our kitchen to be remodeled.

Here's a picture... it's kind of like that ABC show "Extreme House Makeover". Here's a photo where we were waiting for the "big unvail."


These people will do ANYTHING to keep you in suspense! Ha ha! So funny....

Ta da!!!!! Here's what you get Williams family! McDonald's cheeseburgers for a month! Yeah!

Here was our old entryway. So 1990's. It had to go.

Slip 'n' slide anyone?

4th Picture in the 4th Folder

I got tagged! So, your supposed to go to the fourth folder and use the fourth picture, post it and explain it. The rest of you bloggers (who haven't already been "tagged") are tagged now and are supposed to do the same.

It's Ashlyn and Avery when they were probably less than 2! Becky took this picture at the zoo. For reference, the shirt Ashlyn is wearing is a size 9 months! Aren't they sweet? And they're still buddies! This little exercise made me realize how unorganized my pictures are on my computer!

What happens when mom goes running.

This looks like a future police mug shot. Our angel.

A beautiful secret trip to the salon! With water-proof makeup! Yeah!

This video's title is: Playing Firefighter.

The dialogue in this video is: "That's enough. OK. Lets stop playing firefighter."

Ding ding ding! Round Two!

Sally made it through the surgery part of round 2 and is at home doing well! She's been a great patient, keeping a smile on throughout painful moments. Everything went well. Friends and family have been great in giving support (and my favorite.... food). I've tried to have Rapunzel locked away in her room upstairs while me and the girls have been busy making sure my fantasy football roster is set up for the week. I think Ashlyn and Ava had more fun with Grandma running the show after round 1. We miss you Mom! Here's Sally's pretty smile!

So strong......

Poor Sally is stuck with me.......

Here's what happens when Dad is in charge.... Sorry Ava.

Here's Ashlyn helping trim back the palm trees in the back yard. Scary!

The road to recovery!

We love you Sally!

We've been busy!

We have had a busy month! Ashlyn has been adjusting to kindergarden really well and her teacher tells me everyday how great she is in class! She likes going and we can tell she's really learning some great stuff.

We've been trying to take advantage of the hot weather and swim (minus mom! I haven't been getting in the pool all that often) but the pool is starting to cool down! We had some friends from Corey's work come over a couple of weekends ago and the Babb family helped make it a full on party! The boys had a heated game of basketball in the pool that the kids kept bravely swimming through. I wouldn't have been that brave! They were throwing elbows! Corey had a blast with his friends over! Ashlyn's friend, Brelyn, whose dad works with Corey, came all the way from deep in Queen Creek last weekend to swim and this weekend for Ashlyn's party, which was so nice! They already have drive far to work every weekday, so two weekends in row was extra special!

Ashlyn had a 3 day birthday extravaganza! She had a few friends go with her on Friday for a tour of the firestation, where her favorite girl firefighter works, Jody. It was really nice of Gilbert Fire to entertain us! They showed us all around where they "live" and Ashlyn liked Jody's dorm room because she had girly sheets on the bed. They let the kids go into the firetruck and turned the lights on for us.
The next day, Ashlyn had her birthday party at Freestone park. At 4pm in Arizona in Sept. Can I just say my brain isn't working at full capacity right now and that's why I take the blame for lousy party planning! Thank you to all who risked heat stroke to celebrate Ashlyn's birthday! You can see all the pictures of the red-cheeked children on my Picassa site! Sorry! We played with water balloons, ate pizza and cake and played at the playground. Ashlyn has been asking for a firetruck cake with a princess candle for about 6 months now, so she got it! I was pretty happy with how the cake turned out!

The next morning, we took Ashlyn to McDonalds for breakfast AND took her to Olive Garden for dinner. We have a tradition of having Olive Garden the night before Ashlyn's birthday because Corey and I ate there for our "last supper without children!" In past years, it's been take out, but we braved the sit down and it turned out ok! On her actual birthday, she got to take suckers to her class and have the Babb family over for cake and ice cream... and more presents! Happy Birthday, Ashlyn! Thank you, everyone, for making her birthday "the best day EVER!" (A direct quote from the birthday girl!)

Our Tree!

A storm took out part of the tree in out front yard (half of the tree fell over in April and almost fell on Corey!) and we decided it had to go!
It was diseased in the middle, anyway!
So we had it taken out and our front yard looked so big but so empty!
Well, handy guy that Corey is, he spent some time researching the best tree to replace our old one. He went down to Lowe's, bought a Sissoo tree and planted it himself, all while having the girls "help," which we all know meant a lot of extra work!
Ashlyn was very proud of her new tree and loved showing it off and telling people she helped plant it! I'm proud of Corey for knowing how to do that himself and doing a great job!

Forget breakfast in bed...

Corey had the girls have breakfast in the pool!

Ashlyn's First Day of School!

First, Daddy woke her up...
Than she got in touch with her peeps...
She's pretty important around these parts!
A BIG smile for her first day...
The teacher told her to take a seat anywhere and that big smile started to look a little scared!

When mom and Aunt Mary came to get her...
She let us know that she liked it but she got tired because they didn't give her a break!
Good Job, Ashlyn! We're so proud of you!!!

Feeling good!!!!

I know I've been bad at blogging lately (sorry!) but I thought I'd hop on and give Corey a break from his new duties. Doesn't he do a good job? Speaking of jobs, a week before my surgery I got laid off! This turned out to be actually pretty good because I had no pressure to return back to work and could heal on my own time. Well, when one door closes... I'm going to start working for a friend as a "virtual assistant" meaning I'll do all the office work for her child therapy office. It's mostly from home and the insurance billing work will be very similar to what I'll be doing as a physical therapy assistant. Plus, my friend is a super smart, super great lady and I'm happy I'll get to spend more time with her! I've been LOVING having Corey's mom, Cheri, staying with us to help me recover. She is a whirlwind and can give my kids attention, clean my entire house from top to bottom, cook dinner, wait on and entertain me, walk 3.55+ miles every morning AND read that vampire book that everyone is talking about! She leaves tomorrow to go take care of Erica, Corey's sister, who just had a handsome baby boy (Congrats Erica and Ryan!). Isn't she amazing? Thanks everyone for the get well wishes, they worked!! I'm feeling so great! Everyone has been so helpful, so thank you! Ashlyn starts school on Monday. She was orginally going to a school right by Mary's, that Mary did all the leg work getting info on the different options in Mesa (thanks so much Mary!). Well, I picked a school and enrolled her but failed to notice it was an afternoon program that wouldn't work. For about a day, it looked like Ashlyn wasn't going to do young learners kindergarden, but Becky called every number she could for Mesa, Chandler and Gilbert schools until she found an opening at a school 3 miles away! She was so amazing to put aside that kind of phone time while she's got a household of kids and daycare kids, so Thank you so much, Becky! Ashlyn got to meet her teacher and see her school and seems excited. Little does she know that she's starting a VERY long career as a student! Ava has been LOVING being a princess (see pict below!) and is so sweet to me. I wake up in the morning to the sweetest kiss from her. Isn't that the best alarm clock ever? Before I open my eye's, I feel her sweet little lips! It's the BEST! I hope everyone is doing great. How many parents are secretly a little glad it's that back to school time of year?






My dad and his family ( and Meiko!!) came by to visit after I got home from the hospital. What?


These are three luckiest ladies around to have Cheri taking care of us! Thanks, Cheri! My little princess! She LOVES the wedding dress. I've decided she should be a bride for Halloween.




We took this picture of Ashlyn at her new school at her orientation. Think she'll stay that excited?

Back from the brink

I've received orders from Sally to send out the good news that everything is going well! Surgery day was a bit scary, and turned out to be longer than planned, but Sally has come through like the champ that she is. The nurses kept commenting on her low heartbeat, especially under stress. Nurses would say things like, "that's the runner in her doing that." Everyone should be proud of your friend/family/loved-one that Sally is. She is so incredibly strong and she is an inspiration to me and those around her I'm sure.

What Sally chose to do was a complicated decision. It made me very happy and proud of her seeing her resolve leading up to surgery. But what is even better than being with her through her research, decision making, and planning phases, is seeing the point of view she now has after going through the biggest hurdle. She 100% feels that she made the right decision. Even though she knew what she was getting into, there is no way to really know how you'll feel after going through something like that. I could not have married a stronger woman and mother for the girls.

So without further adieu, here's some tangible proof of the current state of Sally. Looking good, huh?!? On behalf of everyone who knows and loves Sally, thank you for being such a good friends and family to her right now.

Just before going in.

Ashlyn wanted to rest with Mom.



Who's the ugly guy messing up the picture?

Plenty of love to go around at this house!

Time for hospital discharge!

We love you Sally!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!