Birthday celebrations #2!!

So this year we decided that we would start a new tradition! In years past I would let the kids stay home from school when it was their birthday and I would take them out to lunch, but since the kids are getting older and it's harder for them to miss school we decided to do a family dinner out! Here are the boys sitting by each other!
Will is a lover of sushi and so he decided to go to Bonsai! It's a tepinyaki style place that also has a sushi bar! He was in heaven!!
Me and Brianne sat by each other- and Brianne's favorite part is when they make a volcano out of the onions!
At this place they have an obnoxious way to celebrate birthdays!! They sing happy birthday along with us while one person hits a tambourine and......
Another hits a gong!!! (sorry I forgot to fix the photo so it's upright...oops) Carter was all too excited to hit the gong!!
Will was loving his birthday song!! :)
They also take a photo of you if your celebrating an event and you get to write on it and place it somewhere in the restaurant so you can visit your photo every time you come in! So fun!
The next day it was time to celebrate with friends, so Will invited his two friends Spencer and Logan to go to a movie with him. We went to see Dairy of a Wimpy Kid which was very good! After that it was time to come home and have dinner..... can you guess what?.........NOPE!! They had hot dogs- the pizza is an ice cream cake!!!! Isn't that soooooo cool!! (no pun intended)
And it was as yummy as it was neat looking!
His friends enjoyed it too and got to stay for his first ever sleepover! It was a blast! Birthdays are sooo fun!! :)

My birthday was fun too- got what I wanted- a copy of the movie Blindside! If you haven't seen it yet.. GET IT! It's awesome! And I also got some very cool jewelry! Love it!! And on top of all that got to go out to my favorite Mexican place for dinner followed by a movie- the bounty hunter- another good flick! Very funny! So thanks family for making my day special too! :)

Birthday celebration at home!

Well, as most of you now know, we celebrate birthday mornings much like Christmas morning! They wake up to balloons and gifts out on the counter in the kitchen! And included with the gifts is their choice of breakfast treat- on Will's big day it was cinnamon rolls! YUM!
Here he is coming around the corner and seeing what we had left out for him. :)
We were all there to see his reaction and Carter and Brianne were anxious to share the cinnamon rolls!
Now that the kids are getting older we decided to forgo getting presents and just give them money so that they can get what they want! Will was not sad about that at all!
We did however get him a couple of pairs of shorts that he needed and he really liked those! We also needed things to stuff the money in! There was some in his card and some in the shorts pocket :)
After going out to dinner for his big 11th birthday we came home to have a slice of cake! Chan always makes the cakes for the kids- he let's them choose what kind they want, colors, etc and then makes it for them. This year for Will it was German chocolate with cherries on top! And it was VERY good!
Making a wish...
It tasted just as good as it looked!! YUMMY!! YAY I AM 11!!
Carter decided why use the fork when I can just get my mouth around it!! Hee hee!
Brianne loved it too! Happy Birthday Will!! It was so fun celebrating with you!

UPDATE!!

Well Brianne is continuing to do well! She is at school today for the first time since her surgery and she is going to do a half day. I didn't want to push too hard! But I am very proud of her! She had some pretty rough days last week but has managed to push through and make the best of it. Can't wait to hear how she does today! :)

It's also a birthday week around here!! It's Will's birthday on Thursday and mine on Saturday so I'll have much more to post soon!! Will is having his first ever sleepover party and is sooo excited!! Fun fun! And I have to say I am excited too- we're going to a movie with 2 of his friends and then coming home to "hang out"!! That's my kind of party!!

Carter has big news as well..... he has been working out since football ended last season and trying to better himself for this season. He is going into his freshman year next year (which here is in middle school) and he is able to try out for the high school Sophomore team. Chan and I both said he would have to work really hard if he wanted to do that and he has shown us that over the past few months. An opportunity came up for him to go to a spring football camp at the high school (which the high school coaches do as a fundraiser) and is run for kids in 7-9th grade. We looked at it as an opportunity for him to get himself out there and for him to be around the coaches. On the first week of this camp he was approached by the Sophomore coach and asked if he was trying out!! He said he didn't know yet and the coach replied that he would like him to come!! It's not an automatic place on the team or anything, but to be noticed and asked to come is quite a compliment!! He was grinning from ear to ear after that and now we are planning on him going to the tryouts held at Snow College this July......WOW.......pretty crazy, but VERY COOL!! Way to go Carter!! Keep up the good work!! :)

PS- can I just say that I LOVE being a Mom? There's no better job in the world!!

medical hemi epiphysiodesis bilaterae

If you couldn't pronounce the title of this post- no worries- neither can we, but it's the name of the procedure that Brianne had done this past Monday at Primary Children's Hospital. I will try to explain simply..... Brianne has had some issues with her left knee lately where she would feel like her knee was "popping" and after getting it checked out it was discovered that her knee cap was "sub-luxating" which means it was slipping to the side and popping back in. During her exam with the pediatric orthopedist he explained that she is mildly knock kneed and that is causing the knee cap slippage. So the next thing out of his mouth was explaining the procedure to hopefully solve this issue. To say it simply- she had to have surgery to put metal plates on the inside of her knee joints to stop the growth there and to allow the outer part of her knee to grow and to straighten out the knee. It's an outpatient procedure and since it was at Primary Children's we decided to give it a shot. This picture is taken of Brianne the morning of her surgery while we were getting her checked in.
To say she was nervous is an understatement, but after talking it over many times leading up to this day and many prayers and Priesthood blessings she was fairly calm and listening well to all the nurses and doctors. She got to change into these PJ's and we were led into the next waiting area.
With a warm blanket on she was feeling pretty comfortable and ready to go. This waiting room was full of kids doing different procedures, but it was amazing to see how organized they all were. We were waiting here to speak to her doctor, the "sleepy" doctor (the one who puts her under to do the surgery), and the nurses who would be working with her.
While we waited Brianne played a little bit on the XBox- amazing what this hospital provides to make them comfortable! After talking with her doctor- the "sleepy" doctor took us to the hall where we had to kiss and hug and watch her go. She was so brave and only got a little teary right before I had to let her go, but she walked away ready and I was sooo proud! And then I turned around and started to cry! I held it together until then- and then it was time to wait...... an hour procedure............but it was only about 45 minutes when we saw her doctor and everything had gone well.
In the recovery area she was in pretty good spirits and was looking really well! She was hurting, but they were trying to help her manage it and also got her a rootbeer slurpee!
She had an IV in her arm to give her fluids and they were letting her rest while watching the disney channel and drinking her slurpee.
She was still very tired and drifted off quite a bit, but when ever she was awake she was requesting to go home.
After about an hour in recovery she was let go and we were on our way home. Getting her in the car and into the house was a challenge because she was so nervous and sore, but we worked together as a team to get her there and get her comfortable.
Now she's home and recovering. She is still not walking un-assisted but is trying so hard to be strong. Dad has been carrying her a lot-but today is 2 days out so she's going to try to do more on her own. I am so proud of her and how hard she is trying and for making this hard choice to get this done. I know it's going to make things better in the long run!! We love you Briannie!! :)

The iphone ghost

A couple of weeks ago I got a new iphone :) Chan has had one for quite a while and the kids have always loved playing with it. He has all kinds of fun games etc on there, so before this past Christmas (when the kids all got an itouch) the kids would fight over who could play the games. However, there was only one iphone "ghost". Chan would go to pick up his phone and see that there was a new wallpaper picture on it and I would hear something like, "Oh geez" and I would say, "what?" Then he would show me his "new" wallpaper and it would be a very obnoxious self portrait of Carter! I would always laugh and giggle and say it was cute...... well that was BEFORE I had my own! I still think it's pretty cute, but man if I don't keep an eye on my phone I will end up with new wallpaper!! The shot above is the latest one I found this morning and it's the most "normal" picture he's done! They usually are much more obnoxious!! But I have to say I can't get mad at the iphone ghost- he's pretty darn cute! (And watch out friends and family members that come over cuz if you have an iphone your in danger of him too!!)

Blue and Gold Banquet

I am so proud of Will!! At this years blue and gold dinner which was a celebration of 100 years of scouting Will earned his Webelos rank along with the compass patch and one compass point and on top of that also earned his Arrow of Light award! The arrow of light is the highest rank you can get in cub scouting and he worked quite hard to get it! His brother Carter earned it- and after seeing him get it years ago Will had made it a goal of his as well! Will is a very proud scout! He loves to wear his uniform and vest and show off all his accomplishments!
Carter, Brianne and Dakota were there too to show their support! Carter is actually the Den Chief for the Webelos right now, so he had a part in the awards as well.
Chan is so happy to be there!! Can't you tell! He was a cub scout too when he was little!
I am such a proud Mom when it comes to cub scouting! It's a lot of work to do with your boys, but VERY worth it!!
Here he is getting his Webelos patch with the compass point patch. I love that he wears his pocket knife- he's so dang funny! But a Scout must always "be prepared"!
Me and Will with his new Rank advancement. The ribbon around my neck has a parent pin for each rank advancement he has earned. It starts with cubs and goes on through Scouting. I have one for each of my boys :) Like I said.... proud Mom!
Here he is getting his Arrow of Light award- brother Steck did a great job explaining what it meant. It was a fun night and Will got a real yellow and blue arrow that his has proudly displayed in his room (just like his brother). I am so proud of him!! And only one month left in cubs and Will is going to move on to Scouting! WOW!!