Spring....Finally

My last post was April 1st! Wow...We have been busy doing not much of anything! The biggest change has been I went back to work part time, around 25 hours a week, at REI. I love it. The people are great and I really enjoy my time there. Plus the discounts aren't too shabby either! People joke that Dylan sent me to work there to pay for his gear addiction!! Not completely incorrect! I was proud to get the job at all. Over 600 people in the Missoula area applied for around 20 new REI jobs.

Also, my last day nannying little Fischer was on Friday. They decided they wanted someone who would come to their house and I did not want to do that. Addi especially will be sad to not see Fischer as often. She loves him so much and was such a big help in taking care of him. The other day he was down for his nap and Addi was asleep in her room and heard him start to fuss and went down to find Addi at his bedside singing, "Twinkle little star" to him! And later she hugged and kissed him and said, "I love you Wiper!" So sweet. She will make the greatest big sister someday. She tells us she wants a little sister already!! Hopefully soon!

The weather as been ridiculous lately. I was hoping we wouldn't miss spring like we missed fall this year. Finally the last few days have been beautiful and my skin can soak up some much needed UVA rays!

My 28th birthday came and went. Granny, Dave and Em, Dylan, Addi and Pa celebrated with me with a pizza and chocolate cake that Addi picked out for me! Jeff and Deaette also stopped by to wish me Happy Birthday. Dylan surprised me huge with a new recreational kayak. I love it so much. Addi and I took it out on it's maiden voyage the other day. When we paddled back to shore she said, "Thank you mommy, that was so fun!" She really enjoyed it.

We are looking forward to the first of August! Dylan graduates!!!He has two more rotations left. He will spend June in general surgery and then head to Butte for four weeks in an ER rotation. And that is it!!! We are job searching now. There is a job available at Partnership Health. Dylan just finished a rotation with them and they are encouraging him to apply. We are still actively pursuing Alaska. So as of now we still aren't sure where this next stage will lead us.

April Fools

Dylan didn't appreciate my April Fools prank this morning! I texted him and said, "I didn't know how to tell you...I am pregnant." Hahaha. Well, I found it funny when he came downstairs and said, "What? You are pregnant? How did that happen?!!" I couldn't keep a straight face long after that! I could barely spit out April Fools!

Addison helped me dump out the sugar out of the sugar bowl and replace it with salt for Papa's morning coffee! I was trying to get Addi to say April Fools but she kept saying "April jokes"! She didn't quite get that these shenanigans were funny! I did, however!

Spring Trip to Colorado

We had the most wonderful time this past week in Colorado visiting Sara and Ellie. Sara's work sent her to a week long class in Denver and Sara asked Addi and I to come down and spend the week with her and Ellie in Denver. Addi and I flew into Denver, Sara and Ellie picked us up and we went back to Colorado Springs for the night. We spent Sunday in Colorado Springs. We took the girls to Build-A-Bear. They both loved picking out their bears and dressing them. Addison helped Ellie put two hearts in her bear! (Unfortunately, my camera's memory card crapped out and I lost the first few days worth of pictures)


The next day we drove back to Denver. We went to the Denver Aquarium. We had such a great time. Ellie was totally into it. She loved it all so much. Addison was asking for "Nemo" the whole time. I was getting nervous, after spending a couple hours there and not seeing him. We finally found "Nemo" and "Dory" in the very last exhibit! Addison was afraid of the sharks until I told her that when she was little she loved the sharks at the Salt Lake Aquarium. Then she decided she wasn't scared! At the stingray tank the girls were a little apprehensive at first to touch the stingrays. Once they discovered they were nice and soft we couldn't drag them away! I was so proud of both of them. My little animal keepers!! We had dinner in the Aquarium Restaurant. We sat right next to the giant tanks and watched the giant blowfish and other fish as we ate. It was so much fun. The girls loved it.


This trip the girls took no time in warming up to each other. They were themselves as soon as we saw each other.

On Tuesday we sent Sara to school and the girls and I went to the Denver Museum of Science and History. I LOVED it, the girls however were a little bored! They enjoyed climbing on the displays and playing with the wagon and running around. There were literally 2,000 or more people there and I was so nervous I was going to loose one of them! People who say, "If you can handle one, you can handle two.", you are such liars!! They were always going in opposite directions with totally different itineraries! But we got through it and I tried teaching them as much as I could. Ellie loved the African area. And Addison enjoyed the North American Ocean Mammal area. She was amazed at the size of seals and walruses (as was I). Both girls ran to the Polar Bear and growled! It is an amazing place. I would love to go back and spend the day there.


When Sara got back from school we went to dinner at Bumba Gumps. I had crab legs...yummy. Addi was absolutely disgusted, her face got all distorted and ask "What is that?". I answered, "Mommy is going to eat these crab legs. Do you want to try it." The look on her face was utter disgust and she said, "Why? No." At this time Denver got hit with the most massive blizzard I have ever seen. The whole place was drowning in inches of snow in a matter of hours. It was really cool to watch. Our super sweet waiter offered to go broom off our car! We insisted we are Montana girls and we can handle it ourselves!

We sent Sara back to school on Wednesday! She called and said class was canceled due to the snow!! It cracks me up. The middle of Colorado, it snows a little and EVERYTHING shuts down. So we got a snow day together. We took the girls to the Butterfly Pavilion. Again, I loved it! What an amazing place. The first thing we encountered was a giant tarantula named "Rosie". We got to hold her!

I know...most people would run. But Sara and I and our girls were so excited. It was amazing. She so soft and light and when she walked across your hands you could feel each of eight legs stepping. Addi tried to "pet" her and the zookeeper quickly stopped her and explained that touching Rosie on the back would result in her releasing many irritating hairs onto Addi's skin that would cause a horrible itching sensation. Addison did not hold her but she was very interested and intrigued by her. She kept saying, "Big spider, nice." We wandered around gazing at amazing insect and spider species from all over the world. They had a butterfly exhibit. It was just like walking into a rain forest. The butterflies were free flying and everywhere. One even landed on me and the girls were very impressed. We spent a lot of time in there looking at the beautiful butterflies.


Later that day we took the girls to the Denver Children's Museum. Wow! We love our Missoula Children's Museum and go there at least once a week. But wow. The Denver Museum was incredible. It was a two story building of play. The girls dressed up as firefighters and played in a real fire truck. They were worms and bugs crawling around in underground tunnels. They were birds gathering food in nests. They cooked in kid sized kitchens, planted a garden and cared for animals in the vet clinic. They danced and dressed up on the dance floor. Both Addi and Ellie shopped in the kid sized grocery store and played the cashier and the customer! It was an amazing place. We all loved it.

We took dinner back to the hotel. We watched movies and jumped and danced on the bed!

Thursday was "scary Walgreens Day!" Addi was sick with a horrible cough all week. I finally wanted to get her some sort of medicine. I got the girls ready and into the car and typed into Sara's GPS "Walgreens". It told me the nearest Walgreens was five miles away or so. Okay, so I drove there. It led me into a very scary neighbor hood. Ellie was fast asleep and Addi was crying so hard because she didn't feel good. I drug them both into the store and got Addi some "natural" honey cough medicine and some allergy medicine and got the heck out of there! After a quick drive through lunch I took the girls back to the hotel and they both took a nap!

Addison felt better after sleeping for a few hours. Ellie was as precious as ever and woke up from her nap only to fall back asleep in my arms for a while longer. I soaked as much of her as she would let me! We met Sara downtown and visited the giant Blue Bear outside the convention center. It wasn't as cool as advertised! After that we went to the Denver Flagship REI store. The sights were BEAUTIFUL (hahahaha, Sara)!!! Sara wanted to shoplift just to get a closer look!!! The merchandise and climbing wall were impressive also! We drove to Castle Rock with the intentions of hitting up the outlet stores. After a fun dinner at Red Robin, it was too late so we headed back to the hotel.


On Friday, Sara's last day of class and our last day in Denver, I took the girls to the Denver Zoo. We were there for hours. It is a huge place full of wonderful animals. It was cool and cloudy so the animals were very active. Ellie loved the Crowned Crane who responded to Ellie's attention by pecking his beak on the glass! Ellie got such a kick out of it! We saw adorable grizzly bears and hippos.
Addison loved seeing the Pygmy Marmoset because her hero Diego saves them in many episodes! It was fun watching her relate the real animal to the animated one. We found the gorillas at the end of the day. The girls were so tired and it was cold and rainy. Ellie said, "night, night" and sat down up against the glass of the gorilla encloser. Addi went and got a blanket out of the wagon and her and Ellie curled up under the blanket and said there were going to take a nap with the gorillas! It was so sweet. Ellie was calling the gorillas monkeys! Addi kept correcting her saying, "No, not monkeys. Gorillas!" That's my girl!

We met Sara down town and pick her up after class and headed back to her house in Colorado Springs. We ordered a pizza and soaked in the new hot tub!

On Sunday, Addi and I's last day in Colorado, we hung out at Sara's house playing. Around 1 we headed back to Denver. Sara loves the Denver commute! We picked up lunch and went to Washington Park to eat. It is a beautiful, huge park. We were hoping to let the girls play at a jungle gym, Sara found a perfect parking spot but was unable to successfully parallel park so we settled for a spot near a muddy, fishing hole pond! After that we went to the airport and said goodbye. After almost being too late to make our flight, well not really, but I was panicking! Addison stayed will Sara while I checked our bags. We had a hard time meeting back up in that giant, horrible airport. Addison said, "Too many people." Addison did really great on the airplanes, both ways. She loved playing with the air vents and windows. She was amazed during the take off.

It was so hard to say goodbye this time. Ellie is so amazing and I was able to spend a lot of alone time with her this trip. I love her so much and wish I could see her everyday. She is hilarious and like Addi, does things on purpose to be funny. Her tiger growl is so adorable and so is her smile.

Addi and Ellie are so much fun to watch together. One second they are holding hands and hugging and the very next second one of them is biting (we know which one that is!) or pushing the other one down. They actually get along really well unless they are both tired at the same time. Then look out. They are equally stubborn and hard-headed. They both very much know what they want and will stop at nothing to get it! On the other hand, they are equally loving, sweet and generous.

Sara and I kept up road trip traditions by singing, perfectly in tune, our favorite songs! Somehow, the girls are able to sleep through the performance! I feel so lucky to have Sara and Ellie. I know they will always be there for us. We have so much fun on our trips. I look forward to the next one. Love you mine sister. Love you mine Ellie-Bellie.



For more trip pictures: LINK

Eleven-teen

When we play hide-n-seek with Addison she counts to "eleven-teen" and then shouts "Ready or not, here I come".

Phrases that melt my heart

"Cuddle me"
"Love you too, mama"
"Tickle me"
"Daddy is crrraaaazzzyyyy!"
"ooowwwwie, that tickles."
"Mommy, play with me"
and my most favorite of all...."I happy"

A few of her words make all the harder parts more than worth it. At two years and four months old, Addison says the sweetest phrases. She continues to amaze me everyday!

Health Issues- Update

Mom had her surgery to remove the tumor mass from her tongue. The surgery was successful and they were able to remove the whole tumor plus a few extra spots further down her tongue they discovered. They also went into her neck and removed 20 lymph nodes. Yesterday we found out one of the twenty lymph nodes is positive for cancer cells. Mom will start radiation next month. Hopefully, the radiation will zap all the cancer cells and we can be done with this. She is still in a lot of pain as her tongue and neck incision heals. She is beginning to talk more normally and is finally able to eat solid foods. Her doctor is impressed with how well she is able to maneuver her tongue with how much of it they had to take. She feels and talks a little better each day.

Uncle Roger has been moved from the ICU into a rehab center. The other night he called my dad the first time in over a month. My dad was ecstatic to get a call from him. He is still healing from his tracheotomy and having a difficult time eating and talking. He ate two full, real food meals yesterday! He will have to spend 3-6 more weeks in the rehab center. Hopefully after that he will be able to go home. He seems in good spirits and is anxious to get home.

As my dear Emily says, "Such is life."

Sara & Ellie's Weekend Trip

Sara and Ellie came up for the long weekend to visit mom after her surgery. It was a quick trip. The girls had a blast together. Addison isn't too sure about having to share all her stuff with Ellie, but they seem to work it out and have a fun time together. We got together with Cori and Kaidyn to celebrate Kaidyn's 3rd Birthday. The three of them are great, life long friends. I love that we all had girls that can grow up together and continue the next generation of adventures!






Addison and Ellie love their Papa. They follow him everywhere and never let him out of their sight! It is really sweet.

Addi at the Bowl

Addi had a huge milestone today! She clicked into some skis and hit the slopes at Snowbowl! As a native Missoulian, skiing Snowbowl is a must and at only 2 years and 3 months she has gotten a good start on the tradition. My good friends Scott and Jackie Gingras were in town and decided to take their almost 4 year old up to Snowbowl for his first ski day and I decided Addi and I would join them. She was a little apprehensive at first and I had to be extra goofy and excited to get her to get the ski boots on. Snapping into the skiis took a little more coaxing for both the kids. They decided they needed to take a food break and then try again. After hot chocolate and a giant brownie they were ready to go for it. And they both did! Owen the brave went first and loved it. He giggled the whole way down! Addi decided it looked pretty fun. She stepped into her skiis (I had to force her a little!) and she grabbed onto the robe tow and was ready to go! We took several runs with her between my legs on the bunny hill. I don't think she is quite strong enough to do it herself yet. After we returned the skiis she was saying, "more, skis, mommy." She is already to go again! I was so proud of her. She was obviously nervous and little scared but she tried anyway and ended up loving it!

Health Issues

My mom is having surgery next Tuesday to remove the cancer growth on her tongue. Last summer she had a similar growth on her tongue and after a few months it went away. She attributed it to the medication she was taking for her RA which causes weird things to happen to your tongue. Well, the growth returned a few months ago. After the pain became to much to handle she went in and it was biopsied. It came back as cancer. After a upper body scan the doctor say it is isolated on her tongue and should be able to be completely removed with surgery. It is a scary time and I just hope surgery is the end of it. She remains calms and optimistic, more than I can say for Sara and I!

A few days after learning my mom had cancer my uncle Roger (my dad's little brother) had a massive heart attack and for the past three weeks has been in a Phoenix hospital unconscious and on a breathing machine. He had open heart surgery to replace a heart valve, had a pace maker put in and had a tracheotomy. His liver and kidneys are very weak, not to mention his heart. He is slowly starting to come out of being unconscious. If he wakes up ok he will have months of rehabilitation. He is only in his early 50s. My dad and him are very close and it obvisoulsy has been a scary, difficult time not knowing what is happening to him. His son is there with him, but getting us constant updates has been hard. He has been in the ICU since he went to the hospital and has been unable to have visitors (not that he would know anyone was there). Hopefully we can go down very soon and see him and help in his recovery.

Addison Jo - 2 years 3 months

Addison grows up a little more each day. Toddler-hood is a wonderful adventure and challenge at the same time! She has a major two year old attitude and tests her limits constantly. She talks on the phone to cousin Ellie and uses her shoulder to hold the phone so her hands are free to color! She is potty-trained! An amazing accomplishment! She wear panties all day long and goes to the bathroom a lot of times all by herself. She loves having tea parties and dressing up. When she has a princess dress on she has to have a "crown" also! Her babies are her favorite toys still. She is all girl. She does not like her hands to be dirty, she does not like bugs or spiders and she changes her clothes literally 7 times a day (she calls it "all-dressed"). That does not include changing her jammies 3 times before she goes to bed! I pointed out a spider on the ceiling and she got all nervous and wouldn't stop watching him crawl around, shrieking, "oh, no, spider." When Papa came home she said, "Papa, spider, get it!" Papa got him in a paper towel and put him outside! Each morning and after she brushes her teeth she puts on my lip stick and says, "See, I pretty." The other day she went to ballet class with Kaidyn. She got all dressed in her tu-tu and got new ballet slippers, but she did not want to participate with the girls., Maybe in a few months she will want to try again! She loves to sing and does so as well as I do! She signs the Happy Birthday song and Twinkle Twinkle little star!

She is loving living with Papa. Every morning she wakes up and the first thing is "Where, Papa go?" Almost every night she helps Papa reload bullets! She is good helper with whatever Papa is doing. She is like a little puppy following him everywhere! They share toast every morning and play video games together, have tea parties and picnics. Papa even babysits her dolls when Addi has to go to "work"!!!

The other morning she said, "Papa go work, Daddy go work." I said, "Yes." She said, "Why?" I said, "To get money." She said, "Oh." Then she got all serious and looked at me and said, "You work?" Hahaha!! I about died!