His weekend "off."

Yes, the glorious weekend was here. Trav's week off of treatments. In my head I was picturing our family holding hands running through a daisy filled meadow. (Okay, maybe not quite that, but I was really thinking it would be a great family weekend.)

Travis had other plans. He really wanted to get some jobs around the house done while he was feeling good, and with Adyson still not feeling 100 percent, we rolled with it.

Of course, we woke up to snow. Lots of it covering those flower beds he was so desperate to dig into. So we opted for plan B. Painting Adyson's room.

When we first moved in we painted Adyson's nursery a lovely shade of yellow. The color was fine, but then Adyson was born and had her oh-so sensitive eyes. When the sunlight hit her walls it was really bright and made them water. Her room was next on our very long list of painting projects and we were excited to get it done.

I am so pleased with the finished product. I know, it's yet another green room....apparently we love green..., but it is much calmer and Adyson loves it. Also, my friends Crystal, Mandi, and Barbara surprised me with this darling shelf for our house, and I was able to put it in Adyson's room, painted bubble-gum pink of course, and hang my favorite quilt from Grandma Kidman from it. I have wanted to hang this quilt for such a long time, so thanks girls! I love the shelf and am so grateful to you for your kindness!



While the paint was drying the sun came out and the snow melted and we were able to get some yard work done. Dead-heading, weeding, and Trav even swept out the garage. I think he was really thankful to be able to get to all of this because it has been eating at him for a while.

It's looking a little bare without all those weeds...time to plant flowers I guess.

Saturday night Travis had to do month end, meaning he works all through the night, sometimes till 6 in the morning. So in the morning I made him this delicious brunch, and we skipped church and relaxed and watched basketball for the day. We missed church, but still enjoyed the relaxation we needed!

Mmm...aebleskivers. Delicious.

I know that it doesn't sound like a great weekend "off". I think that Trav worked harder this weekend than usual, and I'm sure he is totally exhausted. We didn't run through daisy fields, or even make it to the zoo, but this weekend was totally fun in its own way. It was great to spend time working side by side and just chat with each other. I am constantly thankful that my husband has his priorities straight and takes such great care of our family. He always gets done what needs to be done. And we have a zoo day planned in a few weeks...so we will get there eventually!

One more thing. Our next Paint project is pretty much the rest of the house. The color in the kitchen, hallway, front room....you get the idea. I really want a nice earthy tan. Anyone have a favorite color to share. I'm having a really hard time deciding! Thanks.

She just turned 4 but...

Adyson got asked on her first date the other day. I know, I know.... no dating till she is 16. (The Bishop reads my blog, so I hope he's not too disappointed.)

Brexton, Ashley's little stud, called Adyson and asked her to go to the Olive Garden and Horton hears a Who for her Birthday. She accepted.

Here they are at the Olive Garden...doesn't Adyson looked thrilled?

At Horton Hears a Who. Aren't they a cute couple?

Don't worry too much, Ashley, Sienna and I all came as Chaperone's. He was the perfect gentleman. Adyson was not quite herself the whole day. She kept saying she was cold and looked a little flushed. I took her temperature when we got home and she was fine, but last night at 1 a.m. she woke up with a temp of 104. Poor kid! Ashley I'm sorry if Brex gets sick too, it's a good thing there was no goodnight kiss.

Ashley and I have been friends as long as I can remember, and we are really hoping that these two continue their sweet friendship so we can arrange a marriage. Thanks for the great day! We love you guys!

I stole these pics from Ashley's blog. She used to watch Adyson when I still worked at the Salon. Her and Brexton really have grown up together, I can't believe they were ever this small!
Look at him going in for the kill...

And this is what Adyson is doing today. Her temp right now is 105. The doctor said to just keep her on Tylenol and Motrin, and it should go away...eventually! Poor kid!

Ramblings

I was pretty bored with American Idol tonight. I wasn't super impressed with anyone, though I will admit that David Cook sounded great....I hate having to admit that he is growing on me. I still love Brooke and Jason, and am just happy that AO went home. I didn't miss her at all. I wondered more than once why Paula would ever think that those gloves were doable. Oh the sytlings in this season just get worse and worse...am I right? Oh and I double hate it when Syesha does the "baby cry." It's terribly annoying, yes? Other than that there wasn't anything super noteable. I was hoping Randy would say another great word..but he left me bored too dawg. Did I leave anything out? Enough about them.

Travis has felt pretty terrible for the last week or so. His throat has hurt again, and his tongue has been swelling and canker filled, poor thing! You can tell he is exhausted! This week he gets to take the day off and we are both thrilled! It is much needed. I think if he had to go much longer he would start feeling as awful as he did in his first round, and who needs that really?

We are hoping for a great weekend full of something fun...any ideas?

The Fam Damily

Tonight Adyson had yet another Birthday party. (Have I mentioned I love Birthdays?) Both of our families (minus Heather and Jody...we missed you guys) met us at Pizza Plus for the big celebration. It was super fun to get both families together. I love that everyone gets a long so well together and is very comfortable together...you'll see what I mean by that in a minute.

First off, the birthday girl. She got the Mariposa Barbie she has been wanting for WEEKS and was thrilled to pieces! She is sleeping with her as I type. Another gift that she received due to Cody and Amy is the Hannah Montana/Miley Cyrus CD. She loves it, I on the other hand am thinking of the loudest toy possible to give to Simon on his Birthday because I'm pretty sure I will never be able to take this out of the car CD player! And yes, you read this correctly, she is only 4. My 4 year old loves Hannah Montana though she has never seen an episode. Her friends talk about her all the time, and she caved to the Peer Pressure. ;-)

Her favorite gift of the night came from both sets of Grandparents. They went in together and got her this great playhouse to put outside! Her face just lit up when she got it and Simon, Sienna and her played in it with ferocity! They even got Grandpa Johnson inside for a few minutes!

Trav's mom always makes a cake for the grand kids in the family and my mom either makes or buys a cake for them, so each year my kids get 2 cakes, which is great because everyone likes to eat one type or the other! Lorriane made Snow White and my Mom got an Enchanted cake. Adyson loved both of them!





Now I mentioned that our families are getting awfully comfortable together. Here are a few examples...Travis has assured me that Devin wont be upset that this is on the blog, I'm hoping that he is right, but if you are mad Dev, blame Trav! In their comfort they also thought that it was sooo funny that you could see poor helpless Snow White's "booty". Very immature you guys, seriously!

Dear Adyson,

I can't believe you are 4 years old already! Times has flown by! When you were born our lives were changed completely. You were this beautiful baby with big, alert blue eyes, and you had more blond hair that I've ever seen on a baby. Your daddy and I were in love with you the second we saw you.

You've always amazed us with how smart you are! You were speaking like a 2 year old when you turned 1. We used to try and stump you with hard words, but you could always say them, and it is so much fun to watch you learn.

You are so imaginative and creative. I love to listen to you play because you are always making me laugh. The other day I overheard you teaching your Barbies about "Resurrection". You sing about everything (I wonder where you got that from). Your smile lights up the room.

You make friends so easily, and I love that you are such a peacemaker. I am constantly impressed with your kindness and wonder how I am lucky enough to be your mom. You are such a timid kid and still get scared pretty easily. I can't wait to watch you become brave and strong, and I am doing my best to be patient till you get there! I hope that you will always know who you are and have the confidence you have now.

I am so proud of you and Love you so much! I can't wait to see where your life takes you and know you will do great things!

Happy Birthday Adyson!

Easter Happenings

I am a Holiday Junkie. I have to admit, I love em. All of them. So of course, we were all excited for Easter!

On Saturday we went to celebrate at the Kidman's house. The girls had a blast hunting down about a million Easter Eggs and were pretty excited about the scavenger hunt that led them to some money to buy a surprise just for them. Adyson picked out some mermaids and Sienna picked out a Popple. (Do you remember Popples?) They had a great time playing outside with Bubbles and swinging, and playing with their cute cousins.

Today the girls woke up to hidden Easter baskets. Finding the Easter baskets was one of my favorite memories growing up, and I love watching the kids faces light up when they found theirs. They make Holidays so much fun and I felt like a kid again watching them.

They were all excited to go to church and show off their new matching dresses, and I love church on Easter Sunday. The choir sung and it was beautiful, and set the tone for the whole day. I had to speak in relief society today. The lesson was on "Living by Faith, not Fear." I laughed that they asked me to speak about this. I pretty much sobbed my way through it....but, I have to admit that it was nice to be able to bear my testimony. I'm too big of a wuss to force myself to do it, but if someone asks, then I guess I can. To those of you in my ward who had to sit through it, I apologize about the "ugly cry." :)

After church we went to my rent's house for my favorite dinner (thanks mom) and yes, more egg hunting. They got more surprises and loved being outside hunting for eggs. (Adyson got an umbrella and keeps asking why it isn't raining...she can't wait to use it!) We missed you Heather and Jody! They were spoiled by pretty much everyone, they ate too much candy, they are exhausted...I guess that is our Easter in a nutshell. I hope yours was a doozy as well!

My brother in law, who takes amazing pictures, just e-mailed these to Travis, and I had to share. I LOVE the coloring of the first one, and the second was is just priceless Sienna. Thanks Devin!

PINK

Next week Adyson turns 4. It's crazy to me that she is already 4 years old. Today we threw her a friend Birthday Party. This was her first one and she was pretty excited about it. When I asked her what kind of party she wanted, she just said PINK. So we ran with it and it ended up being such a fun theme. I have been buying PINK stuff for months, and had a lot of fun planning this party! I promised my sister that I would take a ton of pictures, and post every detail, so feel free to bypass the many pictures I will now post.

The invitations. They said we would be tickled PINK if you would come to Adyson's Birthday Party and also told the girls to wear their favorite PINK outfit.

Here is Adyson right before the party wearing her new PINK dress. She didn't sleep at all last night because she was sooo excited! When the girls got here they each got a PINK flower clip for their hair. I found these super cute flowers at the dollar store and made the clips, it was really cheap and the girls loved them.Next they decorated these cute little foam PINK purses.Then we played PINK bingo, and the prizes were all PINK prizes, of course.Then we read this great book called PINKalicious. Any of you with girls, I highly recommend this book. It is so cute. Thanks Shelly for hooking us up! Aydson loves it.After the book, we opened presents, and she got much too spoiled of course! Then it was on to the cake and PINK treats. PINK ice-cream, PINK cup-cakes, PINK m&m's, PINK homemade mints, and PINK lemonade. OH my. When I was done stuffing them full of sweets, they wanted to watch a movie, so they watched a bit of Fairytopia, and I thought they all looked so cute sitting together. It didn't last long of course, but they all sat for a few minutes peacefully.
When the girls left they all got to take home one of these PINK baskets full of PINK stuff.

Just a picture of all the PINK at our house. It was a super fun crazy party, and tonight I am exhausted! Adyson was pretty tired today, but kept telling me Thankyou and she also said she felt very special today. Mission Accomplished. Happy B-day Adyson, We love YOU!

Cooliosis

The recap.

Amanda-Same crap, different day. Who is voting for this girl? Oh I guess these guys are...

Kristy Lee-I love her personality. I think she is just cute and laid back, but I don't think she sings well. I think we may say goodbye to her...but who knows, I certainly haven't been right so far!

David Archuletta-David is just so ridiculously cute. I love his goofy laugh and can't get enough of him! I think he can totally sing, I think he is so cute, and I think he is totally loveable....but, I don't know how I feel about him making an album. I feel like when he sings upbeat songs, he gets a little High School Musical, so I hope he can find a nice balance between his balads, and upbeat songs that don't cheese him out. I was so happy that he redeemed himself from last week, and love watching him be totally embarrassed about the tweens cheering for him.

Michael Johns-I didn't think he did as bad as they thought he did. I like him. I totally agreed that the arrangement was all over the place, but I still like him. Any fans out there?

Brooke White-She looked awfully pretty in the yellow dress that only she could pull off. She just needs to stick to singing, because it's a known fact that mormons can't dance...right? I like her when she just sings without trying to perform to much, but I think she will be totally safe. I loved that she just kept on a talking tonight. I think she likes the spotlight.

David Cook-The voice-box=lame. He just tries too hard. I told T tonight when I close my eyes, I dig him, but then I open my eyes and I do not. I hated watching him throw out his guitar pick, and had that super cocky face on. It bugged me and I loved that Simon called him out on it. Weekly I wonder how far back his hair line goes. It's a mystery folks.

Carly-I liked her once again. She sings beautifully, but when she started speaking about why she sang that song I just wanted her to shhh, It was a bit cheesy for me. I did like that Randy tried to make the word "cooliosis" cool. I can't wait to see what word he will use next week. He reminds me a bit of Lacey Chabert in mean girls. "Fetch is not going to happen." That will only make sense if you have seen that movie, if you haven't, just bypass that sentence. Thankyou. Did anyone catch her hubby? He is a tat covered man, just an observation.

And for Jody: Listen to her lovely accent mon. It will help you during our next curses game matey.

Jason-Oh, the tight pants, the tucked in shirt. Not his best look. Tragic really. I feel as though he is high during his interviews...does anyone else see it? I see a weed scandal for him in the future. I still love you though Jason, I just hate your dreads.

Sayesha-I loved her tonight. She sang on of my favorite songs and was much more toned down tonight, just like I like her to be. I loved her dress too, it was perty.

Chickezie-What else is there to say? I love a good harmonica (who doesn't really?), but for some reason it was a bit much for me tonight. I don't hate him as much as I used to, that's something, right?

Ramiel-Ramiel, Ramiel, Ramiel. Who in the world styles you? They should be fired. I was a bit distracted during her performance. I was busy looking at the following. Glittered eyes, the hat, the shirt, pants, or jumpsuit...you tell me. No seriously, was that terrible outfit of hers a 2 piecer or a 1 piecer? I'd like to know.

Discuss.

St. Patricks Day

The girls had a Happy St. Patricks Day, did you?

Feeling sentimental....I apologize in advance.

Around Christmas I came across this post and have probably thought about it at least once a day since.

Would you trade Cancer for a normal life, or your old life?

I've thought about blogging about this because I think about it so often, but just felt that this was too candid, but since this is my journal, and I'm feeling awfully sentimental tonight, bear with me!

I have asked myself this question once a day at least. I know, I know, I'm not the one who has cancer, but our lives have changed drastically together since that crappy day.

I have watched my husband feel pretty awful at times. There have been many days where he can't talk to me or roughhouse with the girls because his throat hurts so much. We have had to have discussions that I feel we shouldn't have to speak of till we are ninety at least :). We have medical bills and we joke that we are paying for that new wing at the hospital. We have have had to change quite of few life plans, but I think everyone has to do that at some point, silly us for thinking that we can plan our lives anyways! I now realize it doesn't work that way. We have had to realize that our family is complete, and that has been hard to swallow.

But...

To all the bad, there is so much good too.

We have been taken care of in so many ways. We have been taken in by so many people. We have been the recipients of many charitable acts. We have felt the heartfelt prayers of so many people. Travis and I have learned to take care of each other in a totally different way than we have ever had to before making our marriage very strong. We've found faith in the Lord, and have been more thankful for all the good things we have in our lives. We have never been so thankful for the power of the Priesthood. I think that we are learning to look forward to each day we have, and hopefully we are trying to make the best of them. Not a day has gone by where I haven't learned how kind people are and I am constantly amazed by them, and wondering what I can do to be more like them. I know I have a lot of you to thank for all of the above...so thank you again.

I wish I could be like Amber and say that I wouldn't give up this cancer for our old life. I would give up this if I could. I'll admit it. For us it is just a lifelong disease, and I would love to not have to think about it for even a day, but would I ever want to trade what we have learned? NO.

I wish I could have it both ways! My goal through all of this is really to find the good in our situation, because there is so much good. I think we are both trying to make the best of this, though I'm finding Travis is much better at this than I am...I'm working on it okay! We are realizing that so many people have it worse than we do, and we are trying to remember that.

Travis had a treatment on Thursday and is feeling okay. I can tell that they are starting to wear on him and he is feeling pretty tired, but still not near as bad as he was with his first round. THANK GOODNESS! He has one more and then he gets a week off! Yeah! That week of has seemed to make a big difference physically and emotionally. He handles this with so much courage and I am always impressed with how rarely he gets down. He has only had to miss a few days of work, and I feel so blessed that he still wants to take such great care of our family. I often wonder about how different it would be if our roles were reversed, I'm pretty sure I would just be a sick lump on the couch! Travis, thank you for being who you are. I am always amazed by your attitude, and have grown to love you more and more through all of this! Your girls are lucky to have a hero in you, and really it's no wonder that they are both Daddy's girls. :)

Quite possibly the BEST day of her life

Today we took the girls to Disney Princesses on Ice and it was SO much fun! I know that a bunch of my bloggin' friends also went, and I hope you all had a great time too. Adyson has been so excited for this day, and her eyes were glued to the rink the whole show, and I have to add that we had awesome seats-10th row. We let them wear their favorite princess attire. Adyson chose her red dress Aunt Amy made her, and Sienna was a very becoming Sleeping Beauty (for about 1 hour till she got sick of it).

Adyson's favorite part was Sleeping Beauty, which shocked me because...let's be honest, she has a small Cinderella obsession. Sienna's favorite would have to be Minnie Mouse. She loves her and was thrilled every time she came onto the rink.

It was so nice to be able to spend the day together as a family. I think these small distractions help us get through everything, and make us appreciate how happy our family truly is!

Sleeping Beauty (Sienna) with her Daddy. Isn't she pretty?

Adyson, Sienna, and I'm in there somewhere. I had to put this pic up because this is the only 5 minutes I could hold Sienna. She is such a Daddy's girl. Can you see Adyson's serious concentration?Ady showing off her Cinderella light.

The girls and their daddy. I love that Sienna and Trav have the exact same smile here. And yes, if you are wondering, Adyson even wore her very sheik princess gloves.

The worst day of her life

Adyson has been on an emotional RoLLaR CoaSTeR lately. About 2 weeks ago she was fevered for about 4 days in a row. She said nothing was bothering her, so we just chilled out at home, and eventually the fever broke. But after that for about 4 more days she was testing me and pushing every button I have. She was snotty, sassy, and just not her sweet self. She literally had me in tears quite a few times. I really think she must have felt like crap...but still....

I am quite happy to say that she is not back to her normal self. She is fun and good and actually listens once more. So we have talked a few times about how we treat mommy.

Which brings me to today. We went to Kohls today for a little spring shopping. She decided that she wanted a toy, and I told her very kindly "not today." The sassyness took over and she threw a tantrum right there in the middle of the store. Now I get that she is a four year old, and they do this sometimes, but I was getting use to my good kid again and wasn't in the mood to deal with the "brat" again. :)

After about 1 minute I looked at her and she just asked for a hug. So I hugged her and said "remember how you should act, and how to treat mom?" To which she replied, "Yes, and I'm just so mad at myself for being bad."

My heart softened a bit at that, but I was still a little annoyed at the in-store tantrum. Till she said this in her most dramatic tone of course,

"I think this is the worst day of my life."

What a kid. I'm glad that this is the worst day in my almost 4 year olds life. I must be an awesome mom. And could she be any more dramatic, really?

Adyson, I'm glad you are back to 99% normal. I missed your happy face!

He's bringing Stellar back

I know you are all excited for The Kidman AI review, right? Well, here you go, I'll admit, I'm not feeling super funny tonight, so you may have to settle for boring. I hope you don't mind.

Syisha: I guess it was fine. She still seems super cheesy to me, but I'm guessin' she's staying around for a while. Any fans of hers out there? I'm curious.

Chikeezy: A conversation for you. The music begins.

Me: Oh crap, he's gonna do good.

Travis: Yep, but don't you think he looks a whole lot like Carlton Banks.

Later

Me: Don't you think he has Crazy eyes?

Travis:Ya they are Chicreepy. Will you put that on your blog?

Travis, you made your cameo, and yes...Chicreepy indeed. I will admit that he did much better tonight, but he still seems to be a crazy eyed version of Carlton. You be the judge.

Ramiel: She always sings good I think, but she is just boring. I think she needs to find out what style of CD she would make, because Ramiel, boring doesn't sell. And to my hair stylilst friends, have you noticed the serious ugly of the back of her hair yet? Very mulletous.

Jason: I thought he did pretty good. I like this guy, dreads or not. I think he is very understated. But, did anyone notice the flowers in his hair in his clip at the beginning? No to the flowers dude, your pretty enough already!

Carly: I liked her. I think she may be the best singer out of the girls. She's not my favorite girl though (brooke gets that honor), but she is really good still. Did anyone notice that Randy said she was Stellar. Stellar Randy? Tubular maybe, Gnarly for sure...but Stellar?

David: In the clip of him at the beginning, he had blue fingernails. I thought he tried to hard before, now I just think he is nuts. Girls, please don't be offended if your hubby/boyfriend has blue nails, I just can't dig it. Last week I thought he did wonderfully, but I really didn't like him this week and was bummed when the judges love him. I know I have some David fans reading my blog, so tell me girlies, what do you see in him?

Brooke: My favorite girl. She is so mellow, and so classy. I love her voice, and can see myself adding her to my project playlist someday. I think she is so cute.

David: I don't like him. I have nothing witty to say, I just don't like him.

Amanda: My opinion will not change about her. I totally and completely dislike her voice. And more than anything, I totally and completely dislike her hair. Amanda, helmet head is not good. It may seem mean, but she really reminds Travis and I of these 2. Ouch.

Michael: I actually liked his performance tonight. I think he is good and would like to see him stick around for a while.

Kristy: I think even if I were a country fan, I wouldn't have liked her tonight. Her voice is really shaky to me. I think she is beautiful, but I think she may head home.

David: Oh David, you broke my heart tonight. I told Travis you were due to have a bad night, and then you came out and sang, and had a worse than bad night. I felt so bad for him. He still is cute as can be, but I hope we get to see a good performance soon! On a side note, who doesn't know Beatles songs?

My Little Ladies

are hoping that these silly faces make you smile, and I do to :).

This weekend was WONDERFUL. For Valentines Day Travis surprised me with a date night. He asked my mom in advance to keep the kiddies overnight, rented a hotel room, and we were pretty excited to go away and just relax! If your wondering how married folks like us date, here is the lowdown. We ate at Chilli's. I understand that this is not the most romantic restaraunt ever, but Travis is having quite the love affair with one of their burgers, and since he still is feeling pretty good, I let him chow down. And seriously, who doesn't love Chilli's?

After our dinner, we walked around Smiths Marketplace looking for Easter stuff for the girls. Oh don't be jealous...there's more. We then walked around Borders where I purchased 2 new books to tide me over for a few days.

Now I totally understand that this may not seem like the most romantic night to some of you. There was no candlelight or roses, but for us it was just wonderful. Dinner with no kids, shopping, and books...sounds like heaven to me!

Travis, thankyou for the night away, it was much needed and I love you! Mom, thankyou for taking the kids for a sleepover, they loved every second of it.